New requirements went into effect in April requiring the counties to report more often on their prosecution efforts. Now, some counties are calling foul.
SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales is blasting a new state rule that attempts to push for greater transparency from Texas’ largest counties, saying it instead creates “barriers that divert limited resources away from what matters most, which is prosecuting violent offenders and protecting our community.”
Gonzales has joined the DA’s offices in Dallas and Harris counties in suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over the requirements, which his office called unlawful a press release.
The new rule went into effect April 2 and requires that some district attorneys “submit initial, quarterly and annual reports relating to criminal matters and the interests of the state” to the AG’s office, in an effort to ensure those counties’ officials are doing their jobs. It also says DAs’ failure to submit those reports could be considered “official misconduct.”
Paxton’s office said in a March release announcing the requirements that they represented an effort to “rein in rogue district attorneys.” The rule pertains to counties with a population of 400,000 or more, of which there are 13–many of them encompassing the state’s biggest metropolitan regions and which are largely democratic.
Per the new rule, Paxton’s team can also request entire case files, which include “all documents, notes, memoranda and correspondence in any format such as handwritten, typed, electronic.” Those records must encompass drafts the final copies, the rule stipulates, “that were produced within or received by the reporting entity’s office, including work product and otherwise privileged and confidential matters.”
The Bexar County District Attorney’s Office called the state requirements extensive, adding some of them “may be sensitive or constitutionally protected.”
“These reporting requirements do not make communities safer,” Gonzales said in the release. “They do not identify trends, improve transparency or enhance public trust.”