While some officials pushed for a new rule, several experts disputed the authority of the local licensing board to impose a rule requiring 10 percent down payments on bonds.
Rising crime and felony bond practices are expected to be top issues in local judicial elections in Harris County next year.
Decrying other proposals as “splashy headlines,” Hidalgo and Garcia sought a 6-month expansion of criminal courts but passed a resolution condemning a legislative fix to felony bond policy.
Listed among Gov. Abbott's emergency items, bail reform for violent offenders has passed its first marker after the House gave initial approval.
Since 2018, 67 percent of human trafficking defendants in Harris County received sentences of five years or less, and 90 percent were not required to register as sex offenders.
A representative of CrimeStoppers said that since 2018, killings in Harris County by individuals free on bond have more than doubled.
A man charged with murdering a Houston police officer was released on bond just hours after police Chief Acevedo lambasted Harris County judges over felony bond practices.
During a discussion on policing and criminal justice reform, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo warned of a coming public backlash on lenient felony bond policies.
New controversy over felony bail bond practices erupted in Harris County after a sheriff’s deputy was allegedly shot by a suspect out on multiple bonds.
Citing burgeoning crime rates, Commissioner Tom Ramsey invited community leaders, law enforcement, and residents to engage in public discussion of the challenges and possible solutions.
Last August a Harris County judge released a murder suspect who claimed to be a devil worshipper on a $25,000 bond. The defendant has now been charged in the November shooting death of another man.
Judge Hidalgo rejected working directly with Crime Stoppers Houston on bail reform impact studies, saying the county should instead work with groups who do not have “an axe to grind.”
