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Orders of Non-Disclosure Are
Being Disclosed
In Bexar County !!!
In the clearest sign yet that the Texas non-disclosure law is practically worthless and is NOT
working,it has recently come to the attention of the TAJLR organization that court ordered
sealed record have been deliberately and purposefully opened!
If I have said it once, I've said it ten-thousand times - an order of non-disclosure is worthless...absolutely worthless
when it comes to protecting one's privacy and restoring the lost civil rights of those who took deferred adjudication and
who thought they were helping themselves by going through the time, trouble, and expense to get their records sealed
through a court order of non-disclosure.
What is it going to take to wake all of you up so that you will start working for the REAL solution - total expunction for
any and all records of ANYONE who ever signed a deferred adjudication contractual agreement with the state of
Texas?
Its your lives I am talking about here...why aren't you willing to roll up your sleeves...and fight...to get back what was
morally and legally yours - your lost privacy rights?
Rob Sandifer
Co-founder, TAJLR
www.tajlr.com
The complete story can be found at:
http://www.sacdla.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Did Senator Craig Take Deferred Adjudication?
This is a late breaking news story about Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig's recent arrest at a Minneapolis airport
in which he allegedly engaged in lewd conduct in the men's bathroom. Senator Craig was arrested and, without
incurring a jail sentence, was allowed to plead guilty. The big question in everyone's mind at this point is: "Did
Senator Craig actually take Deferred Adjudication"? The reason this is important is that he is a very powerful
Republican in the U.S. Senate. This has the potential to help us change the perception among Texas citizens,
especially Republicans, what is really happening in the state of Texas about deferred adjudication and how people
arrested in Texas are often "railroaded" by their defense lawyers and coerced into taking the plea bargain by over
zealous District Attorneys. Please read the article in its entirity and give your comments on it. It is located in our
forums at: http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5901#5901
All of you should be calling your Federal Texas representatives in Washington D.C. and urge them to
support Senator Larry Craig while he tries to prove his innocence. Also, use this as an occasion to
call it to their attention our own problems here in Texas about the unfairness of how DA is implemented
and administered by state and local officials. This is a watershed opportunity for us - let's jump on it!
Update on TAJLR Meeting In
Austin on Saturday July 28th!
Exact date/time/place details have now been finalized for our meeting at the capital
building in Austin, Texas on Saturday, July 28th. We have secured a conference room
which has been reserved for our use. The conference room is:
E1.010 and is located on Foor E1 inside the capital building. Our meeting will start at 11:00
AM and will end when we have discussed all of our talking points. The conference room
is reserved for our use from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM. To help first time visitors better find
their way around the capital building and not get lost, we will be assembling on the steps
of the south entrance of the capital building at about 10:45 AM
The capital building itself is huge and cavernous. For those who are planning on attending,
we strongly suggest you download and make hard copies of the following capital building
floor plans and maps; they will prove to be very helpful in finding your way around.
http://www.tspb.state.tx.us/SPB/Plan/FloorPlan/FlorPlan.htm
TAJLR To Hold Meeting In Austin On Saturday
July 28th!
The TAJLR organization will be hosting a meeting at the capital building in Austin on Saturday, July 28th.
The exact conference room and meeting time is yet to be determined. For more details, please visit the
following link:
http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1897
Make plans NOW to attend this important event!
Rep. Riddle To Host "End-of-Session"
Town Hall Meeting - At A Funeral Home!!!
TAJLR recently learned that Houston Representative Debbie Riddle will be hosting an
"end-of-session Town Hall Meeting" for her constituents at a funeral home. This woman is sick
and should not be holding public office. It truly makes you wonder about what kind of people
living in Houston would elect such a person to office for. Perhaps the Houston TAJLR folks
should show up at the Funeral sermon she is going to preach to let her know that a great many
of her constituents are not happy with her nazi-style heavy handed approach to Texas criminal
justice issues. We are asking all TAJLR members and volunteers to call the funeral home where
Rep. Riddle is scheduled to speak on June 23 and voice your displeasure that Rep. Riddle is
inappropriately using a memorial facility setting for pulpit politics where grieving family members
and friends come to show love, reverance, and remembrance for dearly departed loved ones.
The phone number to Brookside Funeral Home in Houston is: 281-397-0800. The person that
you should request to speak to is the Director, Dale Coleman. Even though Mr. Coleman was
away when I initially called, I did speak with the office manager, Marilyn Sullivan and convincingly
voiced my displeasure that they are allowing their facility to be used by Rep. Riddle and her
constituents for "bully pulpit politics". A funeral home is not an appropriate setting for Town Hall
politics and the office staffs of Rep. Riddle and Brookside Funeral Home need to hear this from
the good people of Texas.
Rep. Riddle is one of two Republican representatives sitting on the House Criminal Jurisprudence
committee which voted against HB 800. She seems to be very proud of this and has invited the
general public with her to "celebrate" her legislative victories.Down below is the text from a public
release statement from her office staff:
State Representative
District 150
Capitol Office:2910 - Austin , TX 78768-2910 - (512) 463-0572 - Fax: (512) 463-1908
District Office: 3648 FM 1960 W, Suite 106 - Houston , TX 77068 - (281) 537-5252 - Fax: (281) 537-8821
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jon English
June 7, 2007 (512) 463-0572
RIDDLE TO HOST END-OF-SESSION TOWN HALL MEETING
AUSTIN - When you think "Town Hall Meeting", you probably do not
immediately think "funeral home".
But State Representative Debbie Riddle (R- District 150) would like to change that.
"I'm as proud of the bills that I've killed this session as the bills that I've passed," Riddle said. "So what better place to talk
about it than a funeral home?"
Riddle will illustrate that point with a town hall meeting at Brookside Funeral Home, located at 3410 FM 1960 West, on Saturday,
June 23rd, at 10:00am . The public is encouraged to attend.
The meeting will focus on the accomplishments of the recently completed 80th Legislative Session, as well as the individual issues
addressed by Riddle, and what those accomplishments mean to District 150. Riddle said that she believes the funeral home setting
calls attention to the fact that session is not just about passing new legislation.
"The focus afterwards tends to be on what good bills were passed," Riddle said. "But it's easy to forget about all the really bad bills
that almost snuck through that took a lot of fighting to kill. About half your time in Austin is spent monitoring bad legislation that
you want to take down, and I believe my constituents elected me for that purpose as much as for the purpose of passing good
legislation."
A journalist shield law and a bill to create a statewide "innocence commission" are two bills Riddle points to that were killed when
she struck them down with a procedural maneuver called a "point-of-order". She said she plans on speaking in detail about these
bills, as well as other "behind the scenes" information her constituents may not get anywhere else at the meeting later this month.
"What really sticks out about this session is what we did not address; specifically illegal immigration and appraisal caps," Riddle
said. "To say that I'm disappointed with that is an understatement. But my disappointment does not outweigh my satisfaction
regarding the important issues that were addressed."
Riddle points to criminal justice legislation as being the cornerstone of this session, anchored by House Bill 8, Jessica's Law, which
Riddle authored. The bill makes pedophiles eligible for the death penalty and creates tougher sentencing guidelines for many
first-time offenders.
"Pure and simple, HB 8 will make Texas safer for our children and more dangerous for their predators," Riddle said.
Passage of the Castle Doctrine, which Riddle joint-authored, and sweeping changes at the Texas Youth Commission were two
other high-profile bills Riddle pointed to as indicators that the legislature has continued to put the safety of Texans first.
"Unfortunately, the same could not be said when it came to illegal immigration." Riddle said.
Although lawmakers passed Senate Bill 11, a border security bill which created the Border Security Council and allotted more
than $100 million to border area law enforcement, most bills dealing with state-level illegal immigration issues were tabled
rather than debated.
Riddle said she filed four different bills which dealt with the state's role in illegal immigration, none of which were given a
chance to pass out of committee. Most notable of the four was a measure to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving in-state
tuition at state universities. After giving more than an hour of testimony before the State Affairs committee, Riddle's bill was
left pending and was never brought up for a vote.
A similar measure was passed by the committee but died on the house floor.
Other anti-illegal immigrant legislation filed by Riddle included a voter identification bill that would have required a photo ID
to cast a vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote. Riddle also authored HB 1012 which would have barred "sanctuary
cities" in Texas and HB 3653 which would have allowed border-area private property owners to contract with the state to build
a fence on their border-side property line.
"This should have been the session for illegal immigration reform, but instead we received important advances to our public
safety in other ways," Riddle said. "I think it's important to recognize the good that was done."
REPRESENTATIVE RIDDLE'S PASSED LEGISLATION: AT A GLANCE
HB 8, Jessica's Law
House Bill 8 allows pedophiles to be eligible for the death penalty and gives prosecutors the tools they need to make sure tha
t criminals who prey on our children will suffer the most extreme consequences.
HB 357 (companion to SB 823):
Allows certain designated police agencies, as well as the Houston Sheriff's Department, to own and operate a device known as a
"pen register" after receiving proper training from the Department of Public Safety. The device allows law enforcement to track
down fugitives in time sensitive situations. HB 1011 (companion to SB 244):
Allows a judge to seal for 30-60 days a search warrant affidavit if it will protect a witness or an investigation.
HB 1034:
Adds the words "under God" to the pledge to the Texas flag.
HB 3247 (added as amendment to HB 3584):
Allows for penalties for misdemeanor theft to be increased if the thief sets off a fire alarm or any other alarm in order to cause
panic and help disguise his escape.
HB 3248 (added as an amendment to HB 492):
Allows The Woodlands and ESD 7 in Harris County to negotiate their overlapping boundaries to protect tax payers from double
taxation and duplication of service.
Jon English
Chief of Staff
State Representative Debbie Riddle
jon.english@house.state.tx.us
phone: (512)-463-0572
fax: (512)-463-1908
HB 800 Goes Far!!! Several Bad
DA Bills Modified Or Killed!
Our Accomplishments:
HB 1367 KILLED! SB 9 Modified! HB 105 KILLED! HB 106 KILLED!
HB 3958 KILLED! SB 1475 KILLED! SB 1378 KILLED!
In the end, we succeeded in making Texas history! For the very first time ever, a TRUE criminal
records expunction law bill was introduced into the House Criminal Jurisprudence committee,
withstood the rigors and public scrutiny of some very heated testimony, made it out of committee,
and was sent on to the General Calendars before it finally died because it did not get to the floor
of the House for a full "up and down vote" by our state elected officials. There are several reasons
why this happened; the least of which not being that House Criminal Jurisprudence Chairman Aaron
Pena refused to allow HB 800 to come out of the CJ committee until April 30th, a full 6 weeks after the
bill was first heard in the House CJ committee. SIX WEEKS!!! That is perhaps the biggest reason
that our bill failed and all of us should hold Chairman Pena accountable for leaving our bill in
committee excessively too long, all the while knowing full well that the Calendars Committee was going
to be backed up with literally hundreds of other bills waiting to be heard and read! This is inexcusable
and we are asking that during the "off season" in between legislative sessions, that all of you call
Rep. Pena's office and/or meet with him in person and explain to him that we as voters are going to hold
our elected officials VERY accountable for their actions - or lack of actions - regarding criminal records
expunction reform.
During the course of this legislative session, we did learn very many important things which will help
make us successful during future legislative sessions - none being more important than our
discovery that when we fight back...and fight hard, we win every single time, hands down! Every single
bad bill that we opposed, we either succeeded in killing the bills outright or had them modified so that
the provisions of the bills in no way negatively impacted DA folks. It is very important that we begin to
realize how much enormous political power that we truly do have - especially when we work collectively
as an organization. News travels fast around Austin during legislative sessions, an no news travelled
faster than the news of 22 TAJLR representatives standing in Rep. Debbie Riddle's (R-Houston)office
confronting Jon English, her legislative Chief-of-Staff, over Rep. Riddle's opposition to HB 800 as well
as her continued support for bills which will greatly and very negatively impact those who took deferred
adjudication. That was a great day for the TAJLR organization and all of the people of Texas because
we showed, in no uncertain terms, that we do intend to ultimately hold our elected state officials VERY
accountable for their actions!
Here is how I grade the Texas state legislators who actually had input on HB 800 and other deferred
adjudication related bills:
Rep. Terry Hodge (D-Dallas) Grade: A+++ Rep. Hodge was very supportive of HB 800 both in
and out of committee and warmly received us every time we have visited her office when soliciting her
support regarding expunction reform efforts.
Rep. Thompson Grade: A+ Rep. Thompson has proven to be very sympathetic and supportive
when soliciting her help and assistance.
Rep. Harold Dutton Grade: A- Even though he authored and filed HB 800, I could not give Rep.
Dutton a perfect score of A+ simply because, in the end, he did "play politics" with the bill by
caveing in to outside, external pressures by drafting a committee substitute bill which excluded most
of the Title 5 offense categories, there by creating yet another hated "exclusion list". In the future,
we will not support candidates who "play politics" with the bill by forgetting to remember that anyone
and everyone who took deferred adudication was screwed over by the state of Texas when the
state violated its end of the contractual agreement by not abiding by the terms of the contract set
forth in Texas Criminal Code Section 42.12. This includes everyone, even those arrested and
given deferred adjudication for a Title 5 offense.
Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Houston) Grade: F--- Time and time again Rep. Riddle has proven to be
one of the worst enemies to the 2 million Texas citizens who have taken deferred adjudication due
to her lack of support of any legislation favorable to our cause while offering support to bad bills
and even authoring bad bills regarding DA. This person needs to be thrown out of office because
she refuses to consider the needs of ALL her constituents.
Rep. Robert Talton Grade: F--- Rep. Talton too, needs to be removed from office as he voted
against HB 800 coming out of the Criminal Jurisprudence committee and has a history of drafting
bad bills.
Rep. Jerry Madden (R-Plano) Grade: D Rep. Madden has proven to be another political enemy
of those who took deferred adudication by drafting HB 1367, which would have disallowed by law,
anyone who took deferred adjudication from being able to enroll in college in order to get a higher
education
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) Grade: F--- This little "Jim Dandy" congressman tried to
get HB 3958 passed into law, which would have mandated that the state create a database registry
so that anyone who had taken DA would have been required to register, just like a convicted sex
offendor! This man absolutely needs to be thrown out of office permanently!
Rep. Aaron Pena Grade: D While we do acknowledge that Rep. Pena did in fact, allow our bill
to go forward, he did so only after the bill languished in the House Criminal Jurisprudence commitee
for almost 6 weeks, thereby effectively killing any real chances that we had of getting our bill sent to
Governor Perry's desk! Rep. Pena needs to be held accountable for this!
All of the Texas Senators: Grade: F--- Why such a low grade? Very simple. Every one of the
Texas Senators, Democrat as well as Republican, refused to even draft a criminal records
expunction reform bill in the same mold as HB 800! ALL OF US needs to hold everyone of THEM
accountable by voting them out of office - and we have the power, collectively, to do just that!
Special thanks going out to the following individuals for their dedication and hard work during this
legislative session: Trish/Mike Mullins, Beverly Lanfear, Dan Adams, Mike Smith, Matt (Houston),
Beverly Roberts, Travis Bryan, and the many, many other fine patriotic Texas citizens for not only
showing up to vote during the elections, but also for making many phone calls to our elected officials
and showing up in comittee to testify in favor of HB 800 and also to testify against the deluge of bad
bills which were out there. You are heros, everyone of you!
After reading this update article, every is encouraged to give your feedback and ideas inside our
discussion Forums. See you there!
HB 800 Apparently Dead; We
Still Need Your Help In Austin!
HB 800 has been stalled out in the General Calendar Committee and never came to the House floor
for a full straight up and down vote, meaning that there will be no criminal records expunction law
reform this session. However, there are still some bills which need our support "for" and other bills
which need our support "against". Travis Bryan (AKA "LordBrienne in our Forum rooms) is going to
be going to Austin next week to testify for the bills we need help with as well as to testify against bills
that are bad for DA folks. He is looking for others who can go to Austin and assist him in this worth
while effort. He can be contacted at:
travis.bryan@sjcd.edu
For full details, visit the threaded discussion in our forums at:
http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1869
http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1789
http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1861
The TAJLR organization needs your help in closing out the legislative session on a very
positive note by showing up to help Travis in Austin. How about it, Texas citizens? Let's close
out this legislative session by helping LordBrienne give one last mighty big closeout and push to remind
them that we will NOT tolerate bad bills and that we will be back in 2009 with a HUGE organization
and greatly enhanced political strength!
We have big plans for TAJLR and our non-profit arm T.A.O. (TEXAS ADJUDICATION OUTREACH)
that is going to help us accomplish great things in the Texas state legislature when the session meets
again in 2009. Let's set the tone NOW by organizing and going to Austin for one last big lobbying effort
so that WE can show THEM that WE mean business for both now and beyond!
I most recently started a new job after having gone through a period of extended unemployment. I am
currently in a training status and thus will not be able to attend. I did, however make 3 separate road
trips from Dallas to Austin during this session to testify/lobby and I am hoping that this will set a good
example and inspire others.
HB 800 Needs Your Help NOW!
Here is our situation with HB 800: HB 800 was placed on General State Calendar on 5/9/07.
On General State Calendar, it is very unlikely our bill will be heard on the floor due to the
quantity of bills vs the time left in session. It is vital that HB 800 be moved to Major State
Calendar which would move HB 800 to the top of the list of bills for consideration on the
floor.
The ONLY way we can possibly achieve this is to contact the Representative Woolley, who
is the Chair of the Calendars Committee. She is the only one who can move our bill to
Major State Calendar.
Please call Representative Beverly Woolley, 512-463-0696 and request HB 800 be moved
to Major State Calendar. We need an all-out massive effort from EVERYONE!
HB 800 Is Alive And Well In The
Calendars Committee!
Feedback that we have been receiving from TAJLR members and volunteers who have been calling
the various Calendars Committee members urging them to allow safe passage of HB 800 out of the
Calendars Committee has been extremely positive and full of good news! For those of you who have
not already contacted the various committee members, we urge you to do so now. The contact
information for these committee members can be found at:
http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1799
Read about all of the progress that we have made to date with HB 800 by visiting the
forums at: http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=22
Moral of the story: Let's have a big push and surge of telephone calls and if possible, personal
visits to our representatives at the capital in Austin to get this bill voted out of the calendar committee
and down to the floor for a vote by the full House and Senate!
The Texas Constitution Recently Suspended
In Order To Expedite Senate Bill 9!
Most recently, it was discovered that the Texas Senate suspended a Constitutional rule during a
procedural motion offered by Senator Shapiro during a Senate hearing on Senate Bill 9 on March 26.
Twenty-eight (28) senators voted for the measure, only one, Senator Wentworth, voted against the
measure. When explaining his official objection to the measure, Mr. Wentworth said:
"I cast a "NO" vote on the procedural motion to suspend the Constitutional Rule requiring that bills
be read on 3 several days in order to take up and consider CSSB 9, because, in my judgement,
no circumstances exist in this case to justify the extra ordinary act of suspending a requirement
of the Texas constitution. The suspension of this constitutional rule has the direct and immediate
of denying the people of Texas knowledge and notice of this measure until it has already been finally
passed on third reading."
So essentially what has happened, Senator Shapiro, in a bid to expedite passage of SB 9 into law,
has effectively suspended public hearing on this bill. We believe that this is a very serious violation
of the oath of office on the part of Senator Shapiro and, at the very least, is a very serious breach in
the handling of this bill on the part of Senator Shapiro. Every bill that has the potential to become
state law deserves a fair and public hearing in which the public is invited to attend and participate in
such hearings by offering both written and verbal testimony. This is just plain wrong and we are
urging all of our members and volunteers to contact every radio, TV, and newspaper media outlet to
protest this flagrant violation against the very document that Senator Shapiro swore an oath to protect,
preserve, and defend theTexas state constitution.
Your comments are invited in the discussion thread at:
http://www.tajlr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1808
TAJLR Lobbying Team Goes To Austin!
On Tuesday, May 1st, the TAJLR organization sent a lobbying team to Austin to garner
and voice support for HB 800 as well as to participate in the hearing held on Senate
Bill 9 in the House Committee on Public Education.
We stopped by the offices of all 11 members of the House Calendars Committee and
asked them to support HB 800 and get it "set for Calendars" so that it gets a vote on
the House floor. In addition, we stopped by the offices of all 7 members of the Senate
Criminal Justice Committee - including visiting with Lawrence Coleman from Whitmire's
office - the man who could probably make or break this on the Senate side for us. We
encouraged them to vote for HB 800 (if it makes it to the Senate side) and also
attempting to get one of them to carry our bill on that side.
In addition, Rob, Trish, Mike, Beverly, Matt, and Dan met in the offices of House Speaker
Craddick, Dutton, Hodge, and Turner about HB 800. Due to the extended session yester-
day, the hearing for SB 9 was delayed until late evening - in fact it started around 10 PM.
Rob, Trish, Mike, Dan, Charles, Beverly, and myself all gave either written or spoken
testimony or both against SB 9. The good thing is that by the time we left the hearing
room there had been only one testimony for the bill and about 10 against it. It was about
midnight when we left the room and the hearing still hadn't ended.
The gist we got from all these meetings is that additional action needs to take place on HB
800 probably by May 15th in order for it to have any shot at all. In fact, we were told that
midnight on the night of May 10th is the final deadline for the House to consider any additional
legislation for floor votes. House Calendars literally has hundreds of bills backed up right now
and we will have to convince them to do this.
So we need to make these contacts with House Calendars supporting HB 800, and we need to
do it in the next week to 10 days - either by stopping by or calling the offices.
Rep. Beverly Woolley (chair) 512-463-0696 (Room GS.2) contact Wendi Lojo
Rep. Norma Chavez (vice-chair) 512-463-0622 (Room GN.12) contact Ali Razavi
Rep. Dan Branch 512-463-0367 (Room E2.322) contact Christina Toronyi
Rep. Myra Crownover 512-463-0582 (Room E2.508) contact Lauren Salzman
Rep. Dawnna Dukes 512-463-0506 (Room E1.504) contact Simeon Popoff
Rep. Gary Elkins 512-463-0722 (Room E1.408) contact Andrea Haughton
Rep. Ryan Guillen 512-463-0416 (Room E2.210) contact Anjulie Chaubal
Rep. Mike Hamilton 512-463-0412 (Room E2.310) contact Jeff Madden
Rep. Larry Taylor 512-463-0729 (Room E2.610) contact Carrie Simmons
Rep. Sylvester Turner 512-463-0554 (Room 1N.8) contact Will Seilheimer
Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale 512-463-0661 (Room E2.810) contact Mark Harmon
A simple short message stating that you support HB 800 and would like to see it get a
floor vote on the House floor should be enough. You could also add something about
how this issue has affected you personally and how you would benefit from HB 800.
Matt, TAJLR (Texas Association for Justice and Legal Reform)
"Work smarter, not harder"
Senator Shapiro's Senate Bill 9Needs
To Be Killed NOW!
Senate Bill 9, the bill authored by Senator Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) will be heard in the House
Committee on Public Education on Tuesday, May 1. This bill will prevent those who took deferred
adjudication from being able to be employed in any capacity in any Texas school districts. We are
seeking to block this bill and we need everyone's participation and help in doing so! As of this writing,
we do not know when the bill will actually be heard in committee; we just know that it will be heard
sometime on that day.
One helpful thing that all of you can do is to call/e-mail/write each of the committee members and
voice your displeasure at the bill and ask them to block it from coming out of committee. Point out to
the committee members that the bill is in direct conflict with existing statute law which is already on
the books found in Texas Criminal Code Section 42.12 This is the section of law which states that a
successfully completed deferred adjudication is not to be considered a conviction, no disqualifications,
etc. etc. The committee members can be contacted at the following phone numbers:
Chair: Rep. Bob Eissler (bob.eissler@house.tx.us) (512) 463-0797
Vice Chair: Rep. Bill Zedler (Bill.Zedler@house.tx.us) (512) 463-0374
Rep. Dan Branch (Dan.Branch@house.tx.us) (512) 463-0367
Rep. Harold V. Dutton Jr. (Harold.Dutton@house.tx.us) (512) 463-0510
Rep. Scott Hochberg (Scott.Hochberg@house.tx.us) (512) 463-0492
Rep. Anna Mowery (Anna.Mowery@house.tx.us) (512) 463-0608
Rep. Dora Olivo (Dora.Olivo@house.tx.us) (512) 463-0494
Rep. Diane Patrick (Diane.Patrick@house.tx.us) (512) 463-0624
Rep. Dianne White Delisi (Dianne.WhiteDelisi@house.tx.us (512) 463-0630
Republican Representative Fred Brown Is Now Onboard
House Bill 800!
TAJLR representatives recently learned that as of today, April 23, 2007 Republican
Representative Fred Brown has decided to join the growing list of co-authors of HB 800! This
comes after a stunning reversal of events in which TAJLR Co-founder Rob Sandifer testified
against HB 1367 in the House committee on Higher Education during the late evening hours
of April 23. HB 1367 is the bill, which passed into law, would allow Texas college campuses
the legal authority to deny admissions or revoke any already enrolled college student who
has any previous criminal record, regardless of any current good standing the student might
have with the college or university. Representative Brown is the Budget and Oversight Chair
person sitting on the committee who was in attendance on April 23 when Rob Sandifer gave
his speech against HB 1367. Representative Brown is a very welcome addition to our team
and comes at a critical time during the steerage of HB 800 as it navigates its way towards
Governor Perry's desk for approval. We encourage all of you to call Representative Brown's
office and ask him to not only vote against HB 1367, but also to warmly thank him and his
staff for agreeing to author HB 800. His office phone number at the capital in Austin is: (512)-463-0698. Press Onward! We are winning the fight!
Rep. Madden Seeks To Pass Legislation Which
Will Prevent DA Folks From Getting A
College Education!
Representative Jerry Madden (R-Plano,TX) is seeking to pass his legislation, HB 1367 into law.
This bill, if passed into law, will give the state's official blessings and sanctions to Texas private
and public universities and colleges the statutory right to deny admission for anyone with a
previous criminal record, including DA. This bill will also give these same colleges/universities
the right to disenroll any currently enrolled student found to have a criminal record. The bill
is scheduled to be heard, for the second time, in the House committee on higher education
on Monday, April 23. The committee proceedings will be held in the Ronald Reagan building
(near the capital building) starting at 8:00 AM We are encouraging all of our members and
volunteers to show up at this committee hearing and stop this bill in its tracks! For a more
complete description of what is going on with this bill and effort underway to stop it, please
visit the following TAJLR website link:
After reading the information located at the link listed immediately above, we areasking all of
TAJLR's friends and volunteers to contact Mr. Madden's office and demand that they imple-
ment the substitute bill we are offering. Their contact info is:
Your civil rights and privacy rights as US citizens are under attack and you must stand up
and fight for them now or you will lose them!
HB 800 Is OUT Of Committee!
The TAJLR organization is like the mailman; We deliver! Ever since the TAJLR
organization was created back in September, 2005, we have been fighting for the
civil rights and privacy rights of all Texas citizens and are now starting to bear
witness to the fruits of all our hard labors. And on Thursday, April 12, 2004,
the Criminal Jurisprudence committee delivered too, and history was made. For
the very first time ever, a REAL criminal records expunction law was heard in a
public committee hearing, testimony was offered from supporters and bill
opposition alike, and the bill was passed out of committee on that day - and is now presumably on its way to the calendars committee where its fate will be decided. If the bill is ultimately sent to Governor Perry's desk and is signed into law, it will allow certain individuals who took deferred adjudication to get their criminal records expunged. Under current law, anyone who took deferred adjudication is disallowed by law from obtaining an expunction. The bill does contain an "Exclusion List" of Penal Code Title 5 offense categories which are excluded from being able to participate in the expunction benefits of the law. These are the offense categories which will be excluded:
19.02 Murder
19.03 Capital Murder
20.04 Aggravated Kidnapping
21.11 Indecency With A Child
22.011 Sexual Assault
22.02 Aggravated Assault
22.021 Aggravated Sexual Assault
22.04 Injury to a Child, Elderly, or Disabled
The important thing that everyone should be doing at this time who supports
HB 800 is to begin contacting the state legislators in their local home
districts and solicit their support in getting this bill passed out of the calendars
committee and on to the full house of the Texas state legislature for a final vote.
Although many volunteers and friends of TAJLR and people outside of TAJLR
have been working hard on getting this bill passed, a very special thanks goes out to Beverly Lanfear, Trish Mullins and Matt (from Houston) for consistently going above and beyond the call of duty in order to try to make expunction law reform a reality for ALL Texas citizens, including those who will be excluded from the bill's expunction benefits. Also, honorable mention is made to Representative Harold Dutton and his staff as well as the members of the Criminal Jursprudence committee who heard bill testimony and voted the bill out of committee.
The language of the bill that was originally introduced into the committee was
recently changed by Rep. Harold Dutton to exclude the Title 5 offense categories
so that the bill would be more acceptable to the opposition. Regardless of the
ultimate fate of HB 800, TAJLR will continue to fight and work hard so that one
day, anyone and everyone who ever took deferred adjudication in the state of
Texas will be able to have his/her record expunged.
Another Horrible Bill!!!
(Thursday April 12, 2007) House Bill 3958, sponsored by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) will set up
a domestic violence registry similar to the Texas Sex Offendor Registry. HB 3958 will set up a central database containing information on anyone who has been convicted or received deferred adjudiction. We are advising all of TAJLR's volunteers and friends to call Rep. Castro's office and demand that he pull this bill immediately. He can be contacted via the following ways:
His office in Austin: (512)-463-0669 CALL HIM TODAY AND VOICE YOUR DISPLEASURE!!!
The complete story can be read by going to:
The Texas legislature is declaring war on Texas citizens who have taken deferred
adjudication !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Texas citizens need to be made aware of what the Texas state legislature's intentions are. Most recently,
representative Jerry Madden (R-Plano,TX) drafted HB 1367. If passed into law, this bill would allow any
institution of higher learning, such as colleges, private or public schools, etc. etc. to discriminate against
any Texas citizen who has a criminal record, including deferred adjudication! What this means is that any
college would be legally justified in denying employment to such students as well as deny them admission to the institution of higher learning and also could be used to deny such students continued admission if they are already enrolled! This bill is scheduled to be heard in the House Committee for Higher Education on Tuesday, April 10th. Please call, write, e-mail Representative Madden's Office and let him and his staff know that you vehemently oppose this bill and that we as Texas voters will hold him accountable on election day if he proceeds ahead with trying to get this bill passed into law! Better yet, show up at the committee hearing on April 10th and offer your testimony/opposition to his bill in public!
And yet another bad bill....
Senator Florence Shapiro, (R-Plano) has authored Senate Bill 9. This bill, if passed into law would allow
any school district in the state of Texas to disallow employment to people who have taken deferred adjudication who had been arrested for a Title 5 offense. This too is another bad bill. We are urging everyone to contact Senator Shapiro and voice our displeasure at her bill and demand that it be pulled. Please call her office at:
And if that was not enough....
Representative Debbie Riddle, (R-Houston) has introduced House bills 105 and 106. If passed into law, these two bills would do two (2) things: Require anyone who owns a web-based business to put a notification up on their website stating that the owner of the website has a criminal record; and (2) the bill would require the state of Texas to create a database of certain types of offenses, regardless of whether or not you have received an order of non-disclosure!
These three elected republican officials, Jerry Madden, Florence Shapiro, and Debbie Riddle, are the enemies of the people of the state of Texas who have taken deferred adjudication. These people MUST to be stopped! They have declared war on the citizens of Texas who have a record of deferred adjudication. Essentially, what this amounts to is class warfare in which they (the legislature) are "pigeon-holeing" Texas defendants and herding them into an ever narrowing corridor of decreased job opportunities and poverty. This MUST be stopped and it WILL be stopped if all of you begin telling your family and friends to wake up and call the likes of Mr. Madden and Mrs. Shapiro and let them know that we will not continue to tolerate their state sponsored tyranny and oppression against its own citizens! If you do NOT act today by calling these people and letting them know that you are angry and displeased about these new developments, then you stand to further have your ability reduced to find gainful employment, participate in your childen's after-hours extracurricular school activities, etc. etc. The time to act is NOW!
ACT TODAY !!!!!!!!!
Getting The Deferred Adjudication Issue In Federal Court!!!
It has now become clear to everyone concerned with the deferred adjudication issue in Texas that the state legislature is not serious about fixing the "breach of contract" issue regarding deferred adjudication for everyone who took deferred adjudication. When Representative Dutton originally filed HB 800, the bill was in a form that would have fixed all of this because it did not contain an "Exclusion List" of Texas Penal Code Title 5 offense categories that would be excluded from expunction benefits offered by the bill. During the bill's committee hearing on March 13th, it immediately became clear during Representative Dutton's testimony that the bill would be revised so that it would exclude Title 5 offense categories. We hold and maintatin that this action, should it be passed into law, is a violation of the 14th amendment rights of Texas citizens due to the following reasons:
(1) Due process is disregarded for those on the "Exclusion List" of Title 5 categories
(2) Guaranteed equal protection under the law is not followed because HB 800, if revised to exclude Title 5 offenses, would not be offering the same equal protection under the law to Title 5 defendants as the law would be extending to the non-Title 5 defendants called for under Texas Criminal Code Section 42.12. In other words, HB 800 selectively offers who it will and will not protect under the law, a clear violation of the 14th amendment of the US Constitution. Currently under Texas Criminal Code 42.12, anyone, even those arrested for a Title 5 offense in Texas who ever successfully completed a deferred adjudication is guaranteed by statute that their arrest will not be treated as a conviction and not incur the penalties that a conviction would carry. As we all know, the state is in violation of its own law because it does not enforce this statute against private employers, banks, apartment leasing managers, etc, etc who routinely violate this law on a regular basis. The state itself even passed laws that allow many of the various state licensing agencies for the many various professional, vocational, and occupational licenses to define
deferred adjudication to be "equated with being a conviction", even though this is in clear violation of the protections offered by Section 42.12 of the Texas Criminal Code.
At this point in time, TAJLR is going to begin focusing its efforts on removing this issue from the hands of the state legislature and and begin the arduous process of moving it to the Federal Court level where we can look forward to actually getting some real and lasting justice on this issue. We urge all of you to go into our discussion Forums and begin organizing into "action groups" so that we can get this issue where it apparently needs to be - in a Federal Court heard in front of a Federal judge who will see the injustice of the Texas Legislature's approach to having ignored this legal issue for far too long and then proposes to fix the problem by offering up the Title 5 offense categories as "sacrificial lambs" so as to make the bill "palatable to the various review committees the bill will be heard in, even though those individuals are also protected under Section 42.12 after having signed a legally binding deferred adjudication contract with the state of Texas.
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Meeting With Our State Reps in Austin On March 13th
On Tuesday, March 13, 22 representatives from the TAJLR organizaton went to the capital in Austin, TX.
for the express purpose of meeting with various elected state representatives as well as to attend an open
committee hearing to support HB 800, the bill proposed by Houston representative Harold Dutton. We
were warmly received by the office staff of most of the state representatives that we visited during that day prior to our committee hearing. The committee hearing itself was a big success, with various key committee members expressing a positive interest in sending our bill out of committee and on to the next process of our bill becoming law.
Prior to the committee hearing that day, we met with the office staff of representatives Vaught, Pena, Riddle, Escobar, Thompson, and Hodge. All of the elected state representatives received us cordially, most of them even warmly. We did have a rather frosty, but nevertheless productive meeting with Jon English, representative Riddle's Chief of Staff. Mr. English left no doubt in our minds that representative Riddle will oppose our bill, but the meeting with him was positive from the standpoint that Mr. English did indicate that "if attorneys are misleading you guys about what deferred adjudication really is and is not, then we need to do something about that". Other than that one area of common ground, we were completely at odds and disagreement with Mr. English's stance on HB 800. Honorable mention is given to representative Pena's staff, representative Thompson's staff, and especially for representative Hodge who so eloquently and vociferously supported us during the bill's hearing later on that afternoon. These 3 individuals are definitely friends of the TAJLR oranization and its mission to enact criminal records expunction law reform and deserve our full support as our bill goes forward!
When our bill comes out of committee soon, it will make history from the standpoint that it will be the first
ever criminal records expunction reform bill to make it out of the criminal jurisprudence committee for further legislative action. Getting our bill to this point is the culimination of years of remarkable patience and hard work on the part of TAJLR members all over the state and some outside the state.
And finally, a big "THANK YOU" to all of the dedicated TAJLR folks who took time away from their
families, their jobs, and their busy lives in general to make it to this VERY important committee hearing.
It was indeed a real pleasure working with each of you and getting to know you throughout the day!
Let's continue to build on our success as our bill makes it way through the legislative process and onto
Governor Perry's desk for his signature and passage into law!
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(1) Write, e-mail, and call each one of the members of Criminal Jurisprudence Committee and tell them how important it is that this bill be given a fair hearing and be allowed to move out of committee and to the floor of the House for a full vote so that it can be sent to Governor Perry's desk for his signature! For information on how to call/contact these committee members, go to
The members are as follows:
Their US postal addresses can be found by going to: www.google.com Just enter "Rep. First Name Last Name
There is a link to find these people's address on the Texas Legislature Online website, but I have found it to be
very unreliable, so Google for their names/addresses! Some of you may be tempted to simply e-mail these people
and then go on about your lives. Please don't do this! We need a "full court press" to make these people VERY
AWARE that WE, as concerned and voting Texas citizens expect THEM to give this bill a fair hearing and pass
it into law during this legislative session! We have worked too hard to allow the legislature to simply kill our bill
by allowing it to languish and then die in committee without even receiving a fair hearing like what happened to our
previous bill, HB 557, back during the 76th session in 1999. The opportunity to try to change the criminal records
expunction law comes our way only once every two years, so it is OUR job to convince THEM of what our
expectations are and that we expect them to be met in 2007!
The absolute best thing to do is to meet, face-to-face with each of the committee members by taking a trip to Austin.
This is best done as a group, but it is still effective even if it is done only by the individual. I'm not kidding folks! It
truly does make a difference in their attitude about supporting a bill IF the bill's constituents (us!) meet with them and
explain to them in private how the deferred adjudication issue is so negatively impacting our lives and that it is way past
time for the legislature to finally fix this problem
(2) Visit the website more often in order to keep up with what is going on regarding DA. Go into our discussion forums
and get to know your fellow citizens. Meet with them and form local TAJLR groups in your community to help grow our
organization so that we will have a louder, much more effective voice with our elected officials in Austin! Post your ideas,
thoughts, etc. on how you think we can become more effective in accomplishing our goals.
Please direct any questions to myself, Rob Sandifer, at: robs@dallas.net |
