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In yet another major failure of the Texas House, two bail reform measures called Jocelyn's Law, named for Houston girl Jocelyn Nungaray, who was murdered last year, which would have prevented repeat offenders from being granted bail, has been killed in the Texas House.
Senate Joint Resolution 87, which was amended to be called “Jocelyn’s Law,” fell short on a third reading vote on Tuesday, receiving 97 votes in favor and 40 against—just three votes shy of the two-thirds supermajority needed to send a constitutional amendment to voters. On Wednesday, lawmakers failed to reconsider the measure, leaving it effectively dead for the session. It would have required judges to deny bail to individuals accused of violent felonies if they had previously been convicted of or were out on bail for similar offenses.
Senate Joint Resolution 1, a separate resolution that would have denied bail to illegal aliens accused of certain violent crimes, also failed on Wednesday evening, receiving only 87 votes in favor and 39 against—well below the 100 votes required in the 150-member House. Like SJR 87, it was originally filed as “Jocelyn’s Law.”
It was part of a major bail reform package that should have been bipartisan, but it wound up being blocked at the last minute by Democrats in the Texas House.
Crime victim advocate April Aguirre is now calling out those Democrats, saying, "If you agreed on other proposals that have already been approved, and got bipartisan support, I don't understand how you could not support this."
She went on to say that this just exposes the true priorities of the soft on crime Democrats. She pointed out that many of these Democrats never deal with the consequences of these votes. She said, "We've seen more activist legislators who are not concerned about public safety. They live in a different part of town, where they don't have to deal with these people."
Aguirre went on to say that even though these criminals don't bother wealthy Democrats in gated communities, they do hurt real people. She asked, "How could you sleep at night knowing that you're risking completely innocent people who are law abiding? You're letting them become prey and victims to these predators."
The good news is, Aguirre does think citizens are starting to notice how these Democrats are voting, and are getting ready to vote out soft on crime officials.