⚖️ Ken Paxton Impeachment Trial Week Two ⚖️

We could have a verdict on whether the state’s top lawyer will be removed from office by week’s end.

Follow the @dallasnews for wall-to-wall coverage. Preview with @PhilJankowski: #txlegedallasnews.com/news/politics/… Time remaining in the impeachment trial is 14 hour 28 mins for each side.

That means we may be done with this by Thursday, @DanPatrick notes. The jury "may have this in your hands late Thursday or early Friday."

Patrick says no days off until a decision. #txlege #PaxtonTrial

We're back on Dan Cogdell's cross examination of David Maxwell, the former top cop at the OAG.

Cogdell wants to know what crimes Nate Paul asked him to commit. Maxwell says he wanted them to investigate.

Cogdell: "If that's a crime I'm going to be on death row." #txlege Cogdell: Doesn't Paul's lawyer says he does NOT want to obstruct justice?

Maxwell: He does.

Here's some of that discussion from the transcript of this meeting: #txlege #PaxtonTrial documentcloud.org/documents/2391…

⚖️ Ken Paxton Impeachment Trial Day 4 ⚖️

The first week of the Texas Attorny general’s historic trial for alleged corruption wraps up today.

Preview of what we’re expecting here: #txlegedallasnews.com/news/politics/… We have gaveled back in for the fourth day of Ken Paxton's impeachment trial.

Ryan Vassar, a whistleblower who sued the agency after being fired, is back on the stand today. See what he said yesterday.

#txlege #PaxtonTrialdallasnews.com/news/politics/…

⚖️ Ken Paxton Impeachment Trial Day 3 ⚖️

Ryan Bangert, now a top attorney at the influential Christian legal org @ADFLegal, is expected to continue his testimony against the Texas Attorney General.

Preview here:
#txlegedallasnews.com/news/politics/… This morning, Paxton’s lead defense attorney (and a candidate for Houston city council) posted this on Instagram.

#txlege

Exclusive: In January, a prominent North Texas GOP lawmaker texted Ken Paxton's advisor with a warning.

"Folks are pissed."

Paxton's agency had just asked for $3.3M to settle a whistleblower lawsuit. The request would lead to his impeachment. #txlegedallasnews.com/news/politics/… Paxton's advisor balked. She told the lawmaker to approach the AG in one-on-one.

“The Christian thing to do is to ask what’s going on in Private,” she said.

The texts eventually devolved into veiled threats.
#txlege https://t.co/L8DSPZJwICdallasnews.com/news/politics/…

HAPPENING NOW: The Texas House is in session. They're slated to vote on Texas AG Ken Paxton's impeachment this afternoon.

You can watch here:
dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege The Texas House just adopted rules to govern the impeachment proceedings.

The gallery is absolutely packed. Speaker @DadePhelan is making a statement about decorum.
#txlege

The House ethics panel that accused Texas AG Ken Paxton of abuse of office earlier this week is slated to hold a meeting in 5 minutes.

I’ll be there covering it. Background:

dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege Chris Hilton with the @TXAG is demanding to be heard but they are not taking testimony. They went into executive session. #txlege

Short 🧵 1/ Texas AG Ken Paxton is floating the idea that he might get impeached.

With just a few days left in the 2023 Legislative session, what would that actually look like? I took a look at the steps here.

dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege 2/ The state Constitution gives the #txlege the power to impeach certain elected officials, including the attorney general.

To do so, a majority of House members would have to vote for impeachment. Then, the Senate would have to hold a trial.

dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege

Up now in Texas Senate: #SB1029 which would prohibit public $ for "provision or administration" of gender-affirming care for all ages of patients.

Would also make insurers "strictly liable" to pay for detransitions, and make it easier to sue doctors for malpractice. #txlege Sen @NathanForTexas asks: "If a patient comes in and requests a procedure, and the physician provides the procedure and does so competently, that physician is nevertheless liable to that patient for anything that follows that procedure?"

@SenBobHall: "That's it." #txlege

1/ Short 🧵 on anti-#drag efforts in Texas:

The Senate passed a bill this month that is pitched as a way to protect kids from explicit drag shows.

But legal experts said it would criminalize everything from dirty dancing to #LGBTQ Pride parades.
dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege 2/ The lawyers identified 4 areas of concern: The bill includes vague descriptions of new crimes, specifically targets people “exhibiting” as the opposite sex, is overly broad in its definitions of “sexually oriented” and lacks discussion of an alleged scofflaw's intent. #txlege

🧵1/ County jails have A/C. Animal shelters too.

But Texas doesn't require its prisons to have climate control.

In the past, the state hasn't kept indoor heat logs.

We @dallasnews obtained new data that exposes conditions behind bars.
dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege #FOIA The News obtained the indoor temperature logs at all Texas prisons, which the state only recently required them to begin keeping, through a public info request and analyzed them.

The data show indoor temperatures in 15 state-run lockups exceeded 100 degrees last summer. #txlege

Senate Bill 12 gets FINAL PASSAGE in the Texas Senate by vote of 20-11. It would criminalize drag shows or any other performances deemed overtly sexual if they're in front of or may be in front of minors.

Background: dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #TXLege #SB12 #LGBT #LGBTQ #dragqueen Senate Bill 1601, which would bar public money from libraries that host #drag shows, is up for final passage in the Texas Senate.

@SenRoyceWest, the only Democrat who voted for it yesterday, is asking Qs of the author. #txlege #SB1601

HAPPENING NOW: Senate takes up debate on bill to restrict, and at times criminalize, drag shows in Texas.

Background: dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege #LGBTQ #LGBT #SB12 Bill author @SenBryanHughes says his legislation is just about protecting children from "sexually explicit performances."

But, his bill would also make it a crime for a man presenting as a woman (and vice versa) to perform a "prurient" event "on public property."

#txlege #SB12

Senate Bill 14, the ban on medical treatments for transgender minors, is up for final passage in the Texas Senate.

Background here: dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ Bill author @DonnaCampbellTX repeats her opening statement for this bill: "Children who are on puberty blockers and cross sex hormones need more counseling in love. They don't need blades and drugs."

#txlege #SB14 #LGBTQ #LGBTQ #trans #transgender

HAPPENING NOW: The Texas Senate is debating #SB14, which would ban certain medical treatments for transgender minors.

Last week it was amended to exempt current patients from the ban. Looks now that @DonnaCampbellTX is stripping that amendment. dallasnews.com/news/politics/…

#txlege @DonnaCampbellTX "The amendment was not discussed in committee, and there were so many questions that have been brought up since the amendment was put on that, out of respect for the body, we're going to just take it down," Campbell says.

@Menendez4Texas is balking at this change. #txlege #SB14

🧵Today a committee in the Texas Senate will take up bills to ban gender-affirming care for minors. This is the first time they'll debate this legislation this year.

I've been covering transgender youth in Texas for years. Here's some of what I've learned.
#txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ 2/ In 2017, the focus in Texas was on the "bathroom bill." Parents of trans kids mobilized to fight it.

"You don’t know my kid. You don't know what he's gone through just to be himself," one Dallas mom told me at the time.
dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ

Texas just filed its appellate brief in the case it's fighting against parents of transgender kids.

Gov't reiterates argument there hasn't been "any particular harm suffered" by families investigated for child abuse bc kids haven't been removed.

documentcloud.org/documents/2370… #txlege The state of Texas' brief also argues two families with transgender kids no longer have standing to sue bc their investigations have been closed and with no finding of child abuse.

Background: dallasnews.com/news/public-he… #txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ

#SB12 to ban children from being able to attend drag shows in Texas just referred to State Affairs.

This bill — plus legislation to ban gender affirming care for minors, restrict transgender college athletes and regulate library books — are all @DanPatrick priorities. #txlege @DanPatrick Also: A bathroom bill of sorts (yes, it's back) was just referred to House Pub Ed.

It'd require schools to have a public policy about bathroom/locker facilities not separated by sex at birth that must specifically denote which facilities fall into this category.

#HB2722 #txlege

NEW: A Texas Senate committee will debate legislation to restrict transgender athletes in collegiate sports today. You can watch the hearing live online and I will be live-tweeting about it.

Here is some background on the bill: dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege #LGBT #LGBTQ This is the first bill that affects the LGBTQ community that is getting a committee hearing this session.

On Thursday, another Senate committee will debate banning gender-affirming care for minors. Both are priorities of Lt. Gov. @DanPatrick.

dallasnews.com/news/texas/202… #txlege

1/ 🧵There was an important hearing in the Texas lawsuit over abuse investigations into families w/ transgender children today. Here's what happened:

First things, the judge didn't make any decisions. Jurisdictional issues are on deck. Background: dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege 2/ The case dates to June, when 3 Texas families sued the state over its decision to investigate gender-affirming care for minors.

Today, the state argued two of the families should no longer be able to sue (@mrsbriggle's and one other) bc their cases have been closed. #txlege

1/ In October 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sat down with two police officers in Austin.

He had a slew of complaints, including about the tech giant Google. He said he'd turned off location services on his phone b/c he didn't trust them.
dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege 2/ Paxton asked the police to turn off their recorder bc he was "fearful of public records requests."

Paxton eventually agreed to allow it to be audio recorded. We got the tape. The contents provide rare insight into the embattled AG's mindset.

dallasnews.com/news/politics/… #txlege