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Target letters inform the recipients that they are the target of a federal investigation, which means that the government intends to press civil or criminal charges against that person. Rodney Ellis, County Commissioner, Precinct 1 Tami Pierce is representing herself with co-counsel, Paul Simpson. They also ensure Harris Countys compliance with environmental regulations; represents the county in state administrative hearings; and coordinates with federal, state, and local stakeholders on environmental legislation, rules, and policies affecting the county and its citizens. The Compliance Practice Group specializes in lawsuits for debt collection and enforcement of laws that protect the interest of Harris County. Just to review the timeline a bit, the federal order to halt I-45 construction did indeed come one year ago, a couple of weeks after Harris County sued TxDOT over many of the previously expressed concerns about the project. In 2022, the county passed a shortened seven-month budget that was in effect until the new schedule began in October. Area residents had fought the companys application, which was rejected on the grounds that it didnt adequately study the impacts of pollutants. Hidalgos opponent Alexandra del Moral Mealer. See here and here for the background. 2023-00924; Elizabeth Buss v. Judge David Fleischer. Spanish, Localized Harris County officials argued as much in a filing to the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday. In the roughly 20 months since, officials chipped away at the differences,postponing action on the countys lawsuitand awaiting the federal review, while exploring what changes TxDOT could make to appease concerns. The county received the second largest settlement for a local government in the nation. Those against the project often note it will result in the demolition of more than 1,000 residences, nearly 350 businesses and a handful of schools and churches. I would be very interested in meeting with you to discuss this matter further, and I would appreciate any advice or guidance you can provide. So, until I hear otherwise, it is my contention that these provisional ballots are not enough to alter any races result, and also that this doesnt matter because all of the ballots should be counted. Its going to be Republican versus Republican, Renteria said. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee says the county is not releasing the ballots, arguing the opinion Paxton issued in the name of election integrity last week runs afoul of the law. Highway construction and expansion interrupt lives, displace people from their homes and businesses, and decimate generational wealth, especially in communities of color.. She offered examples of voters she no longer felt she could help navigate the vote-by-mail process. His math was wrong then and its wrong now.. University of Texas - Austin Texas A&M University - College Station Texas Super Lawyers, Avvo and Board Certification - Family Law (2003-8) Texas State Bar A Guide to Texas Child Support Law. That, coupled with $27 million in affordable housing assistance TxDOT must provide to make up for lost apartments and homes, will allow many residents to stay in the area despite risk of gentrification, said Tanya DeBose, executive director of the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council, in a video about the project produced by TxDOT. None of that will stop the Fifth Circuit from doing what the Republicans ask them to do since thats what they believe their job is, but at least he tried. As I said before, the obvious way to deal with delays in opening a given voting location is to push back the closing time for it. As of today, the office has not received an opinion on how to proceed with these particular public information requests. Details big and small remain works in progress and a federal pause looms as the last big hurdle, for now, as officials move ahead after last months agreements. Harris County, TX Attorney. However, given that the provisional votes cast on Election Day favored Democrats, its even less likely for that race to be affected, and it would be impossible for both of them to be in a position to change. The USPS rede livery form states that it was both a letter and certified mail. This anti-solicitation provision of SB 1 not only makes it harder for these folks vote, but it criminalizes the constitutionally protected free speech of the Harris County Elections Administrator and violates the First Amendment., S.B. I dont know if we will get Constable/JP redistricting, but there are always some interesting primary contests here, and even with the same maps we could have interesting November races in Precincts 4 and 5. Minutes, Corporate You can also contribute to any candidate you like directly just google them or find their campaign Facebook page to get to a suitable Donate link for them. The bail board, as the lawsuit points out, is designed to oversee the bonding business in Harris County. Hiring or retaining a lawyer is simply too expensive. Bruce Bain is represented by Elizabeth Alvarez. A county attorney tried to send me mail through USPS the other day when I wasn't home. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg during a press conference Wednesday, July 1, 2020, in Houston. Not that Im complaining. Garcia 33,177 8,498 0 54,177 Estates, Forms A legal opinion released by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week will almost certainly throw county elections offices into chaos after November, experts say, exposing election clerks to possible criminal charges and materially reducing the security of every ballot cast in the state. Seems like a lot of fuss for something that is unlikely to go anywhere, but who knows. This is an official form from the Harris County, Texas District Clerks Office, which complies with all applicable laws and statutes. Houston, TX 77003. Cindy Siegel, chairwoman of the Harris County GOP, said officials are impeding on the democratic process. If the GOP succeeds, that would end. To say the least, that is a massive, massive upending of the regular democratic order. See here for the background. The stay and pause, officials said, would give an opening to officials to work out details of the planned freeway widening without backing off their opposition to what TxDOT is proposing. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. (Except for Steve Radack, who still has a nice chunk of change in his account.) Will, All The Bail Bond Board adopted this rule after hearing directly from the families of victims of violent crimes, community organizers, and law enforcement. Although the scope of Rodriguezs preliminary injunction is limited, the judge dealt the first legal blow to new elections restrictions and voting changes Republican lawmakers enacted last year. The information contained in this site was valid at the time of posting. Were bringing real money to the county to ensure were protecting our youth from e-cigarette use, said Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee. I have a hard time believing that this couldnt have been litigated before Tuesday afternoon, however. The 5th U.S. Todays decision allows the threat of criminal prosecution to loom over officials trying to help voters. Remember, if you are not working you are not getting paid but the office bills continue nevertheless. Judge Walker is represented by John Raley. Christian D. Menefee (@CDMenefee) 4:44 PM 17 February 2022. . They dont know when theyre going to run afoul of this vague [law].. I think Harris County has the right response here. On the other side of that, you can see that Judge Hidalgo left it all on the field. That would include increasing penalties for those who violate election laws even inadvertently, reducing early voting days and restricting mail-in balloting to only the military, the disabled and people who will be out of the county during the entirety of early voting. 4. 1 and, many other entities, including the Brennan Center (inLUPE v. Abbott), have also filed suit against various parts of the law. I did not see any news items related to this, so what you see here is all I know. After closing the polls, election judges will hand off ballots to law enforcement officers and deputized county staffers, who will drive the equipment to the central counting station at NRG Arena on the judges behalf. She said she was shocked by the opinion. Local, state and federal leaders celebrated the EPAs decision to look at the discrimination claims Tuesday. I cant tell if this is just using a round number because exact figures are confusing or if this is the exact figure. 2023-00934; Brian Staley v. Judge Monica Singh. Respondents are directed to conduct the canvass of the November 2022 election as required by the Election Code. And theres nothing in the law that prohibits them from being counted, Menefee said. Attorney General Ken Paxton is distorting the law to fuel conspiracy theories, encouraging reckless behavior that erodes public trust in our democratic process, Menefee said in a statement. This is the state house district in which I ran back in 2018 and 2020. She conceded gracefully and went on with her life. The Harris County Attorney and Lone Star Legal Aid, a nonprofit law group, alleged that the state environmental agency discriminated against racial and ethnic minorities and those with limited English proficiency through a revised permitting process to build new concrete batch plants. The county's position on his determination that the county defunded the Precinct 5 Constable's Office has not changed. EPA stepping in signaled a shift in that fight for residents who have little more than emotional appeals on their side, and what help they can get from frustrated government representatives. The feds later asked TxDOT to pause other work on the project as well. They have a goal in mind and this is why they hired a lawyer. Because I have nothing better to say, here are a couple of tweets from Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee: . Attorney, Terms of Im fine with this approach if theres a path to meeting the needs of the many people and groups that have been objecting to the design of this project, then sure, lets go for it but I wouldnt get my hopes up too much. Nothing else of great interest in this group Id expect both Ed Gonzalez and Christian Menefee to start posting bigger numbers soon. When it comes to voting by mail, I have to be very careful with my words, Longoria said from the witness stand. Adrian Garcia, County Commissioner, Precinct 2 That may be a bad feature of the law as it now exists, but it is the law and a district court is highly unlikely to deviate from the normal course of behavior. While most criminal cases are handled in state courts rather than in federal courts, the types of criminal cases prosecuted by the United States Attorneys Office include white collar fraud, Medicare fraud, drug trafficking, tax evasion, and immigration crimes. Marilyn and Tenesha have pro bono attorneys but the others are not allowed to be represented pro bono due to conflicts of interest. Copyright 2022 Attorney-FAQ.com | version 5.1.20 (commit d0adbc) Laravel v 8.83.26 | (PHP v8.1.16), Home (current) | UPDATE: The HISD Board approved the mask mandate that Superintendent House requested. The judge in the Lunceford contest was assigned on December 13, I dont know what has happened since then. If a spouse has taken the time and money to retain a lawyer, it means they are serious. An election judge is the person in charge of running a voting location. The security controls exist for a good reason, he said, and undermining them has serious implications. Yet, the way the (Texas Public Information Act) is written, no one except those involved in the underlying lawsuit can get access to the public information.. I didnt write about the initial failure of the board to pass a rule requiring that bail bond companies must charge a minimum of ten percent of whatever bail had been set. Hani Mirza, legal director of the Texas Civil Rights Projects voting rights program, was part of the team that sought the court order extending voting hours this year. If the name sounds familiar, it may be because Judge Peeples was the jurist who ruled that the abortion bounty hunter law SB8 violated the state constitution last December, though he did not issue a statewide injunction against it. The contests being filed request that the more than one million votes cast in Harris County be voided and the county hold another election for the races being challenged (e.g., Harris County Judge, 189thDistrict Court, 180thDistrict Court, etc.). Menefees office asked the EPA to stop any new standard concrete batch plant permits from being issued until the investigation is finished, he said. I presume that last line is there in the event the provisional ballots have an effect on the 180th Criminal District Court race, in which event (again, I presume) the merits of the arguments will have to be addressed. March 1, 2023 The opinion itself provides little guidance as to how long or for what reasons election administrators can block access to such ballots, leaving administrators across the state concerned about their ability to appropriately comply. Change, Waiver In a handful of cases, no one came to pick up the ballots leading the election judge to take them home or couriers failed to drop them off in a timely manner. Let me start off by saying that my heart breaks for everyone in Uvalde. The Press has more. In its release, the county elections office said it does request the information being asked on the form used by men and added that voters are not required to sign them. The restriction applies to any program intended to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official list of eligible voters, including general mailings and door to door canvasses, according to the Justice Department. Seriously, this was a fine performance by the Elections Office. Fortunately, we know how to handle these types in fact, many of our clients have been shocked to learn that their investigations have been closed with zero civil or criminal liability. I have no context to guess how long it may take, though Id expect that if the state doesnt like what the EPA says well get a lawsuit afterwards. Oftentimes, federal agents will handle investigative tasks, such as interviewing witnesses or executing search warrants, and then the United States Attorneys Office will rely on those investigative efforts of the federal agents to build a case for trial. Harris County Attorney's Office 1019 Congress, 15th Floor Houston, TX 77002 Office: 713-755-5101 Fax: 713-755-8924 Communications@harriscountytx.gov Harris County Attorney's Office Staff Directory For Media Inquiries Media Hotline: 832-544-8045 Communications@harriscountytx.gov To Report Price Gouging Click hereto file a report. Change, Waiver I want kids across Harris County to go on to live long, healthy lives. 5 Cause No. Additionally, many letters from the U.S. Attorneys Office will include a blank Business Records Affidavit for the recipient to fill out and have notarized. I dont know what legal options the majority has, but I do know that the Speaker of the House has the authority to call upon the Texas Rangers to round up legislative quorum-busters, which is why they always flee the state. The plaintiffs are Harris County Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria and Cathy Morgan, a volunteer deputy registrar who assists people with mail-in ballots in Travis and Williamson counties. Residents in Aldine recently packed a room to tell TCEQ not to approve another new plant only to find out that the deadline had already passed to ask the state agency to escalate the dispute to the next level. Planning, Wills 95% Success Rate. Did I mention that the Republicans opposed the extension of voting hours in Harris County (and not in red-voting Bell County, which also had voting location issues), and also opposed the counting of provisional ballots cast by people who voted after 7 PM? Either we win enough power to hold them off, or we are left with nothing but the hope that the likes of Bryan Hughes is unwilling to go that far. Incorporation services, Living Another type of letter that can be issued from the United States Attorneys Office is a target letter.. Gov. Astros Week: Michael Brantley, AT&T Sports Southwest's Money Problem and Pitch Clock Chaos, Top Draft Prospect Jalen Carter Charged With Reckless Driving and Racing on Day of NFL Combine. Turner sent a proposed agreement, in the form of a memorandum of understanding, to Bugg last August. Given that Harris County voters cast more than 1.1 million ballots overall, the 2,000 provisional ballots have little chance of changing most election outcomes. Notes, Premarital The investigation will focus on whether the adoption of the amendment and the permitting process is discriminatory, and whether the state agency failed to seek meaningful public comment. Otherwise you could be arrested with no notification. That sort of addresses my question above about the last line in the SCOTx order. TCEQ later passed the amendment and approved the companys application after what it called a clerical error.. Another reminder: There were 782 voting locations on Election Day, and you could vote at any of them. Cagle 64,225 186,970 0 5,056 Civil Ad Litem . The mayor announced Thursday that Arturo G. Michel is returning to government as City Attorney for the City of Houston. You could have voted elsewhere! 3 Cause No. Harris County Attorneys Office1019 Congress, 15th FloorHouston, TX 77002, Harris County Attorney's Office Staff Directory. Many of those races were close, and it wouldnt surprise us to see candidates filing election contests.. I really dont think thats too much to ask. The new rule is at odds with how Claiborne, whose license the board renewed ahead of the most-recent vote, plans to conduct her business, according to the court documents. Four Observations From Houston Astros Spring Training, TX Rep. Slaton Wants To End Taxes for People With Ten or More Children. 2023-01066; Dan Simons v. Judge Sedrick Walker. However, the hyperlink for that case didnt work when I tried it, and searching for the case via that number returned no results. The SOS raised no concerns, legal or otherwise, with the program. See here for the background. There is a deadline of MARCH 8 to raise funds!! We are doing everything we can to move this project forward, James Koch, director of transportation planning and development for TxDOT in Houston, told a North Houston Association luncheon on Wednesday. Ignoring the letter forces the opposing partys lawyer to do one thing recommend that his or her client proceed to Court. 10 Cause No. But we dont plan to let him abuse his power. The Texas Election Network website which has minimal information about the organization and does not disclose its leadership lists five objectives, including clean voter rolls and fraud-free absentee ballots. One judge whose race is being challenged, David Fleisher, lives in 133. I am writing to request your help with a matter that is very important to me. See here and here for some background. Handbook, DUI Despite the GOPs criticism, at least 40 Republican judges are choosing to participate in the countys plan. You could have voted early! It will only work when communication between the parties is good enough for them to engage in a discussion without arguments, no serious power imbalance between the parties exist, and full transparency of financial matters is available. But due to a change in state law, you only have until March 8 to make a contribution. Orange/Osceola State Attorney's Office. Giving this much power to a governing minority is the problem here. Their presence allows us to view a case from both points of view the defense and the prosecution. See here for the background. Harris County Attorney said Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar's claims that Harris County officials are finding a resolution to defunding law enforcement complaints are false. Public servants have moved on. The Texas Organizing Project didnt file its lawsuit to extend voting hours because of problems in The Villages and Cy-Fair. As shown by Attorney General . A Republican is going to win during the primary election. 2023-01067; Dan Spjut v. Judge Juanita Jackson. Its a win, at least temporarily, for Harris County officials in a fight against Paxtons attempt to discard thousands of midterm ballots as election results are set to be certified Tuesday. Check out the subscription page by clicking Buy Now. At issue is a new state law passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature,Senate Bill 23, that bars large counties from cutting law enforcement spending without getting approval from voters. Greg Abbott expanded early voting for an additional week to allow more people concerned about COVID-19 to vote before Election Day. S.B. Rogers Parents Deal With If TEA is About to Take Over? Its just illogical to me, and this is a part of the story that nobody talks about.. Proper: For each employer for whom you have worked within the past five years, documents evidencing the name and address of each officer, director, or manager of those employers and documents evidencing each persons position. Theres no explanation for it hes just flat wrong. A decision by a dissenting [opinion] of the court, while sometimes correct, Ariens said, is not as helpful as a decision from a majority of the court., But getting the temporary restraining order granted in the first place puts San Antonio and Bexar County in a stronger position, he said, as it allowed the city to get a mask mandate in place in public schools and public facilities. Time and again, the TCEQ has approved permits for additional plants in these very same neighborhoods, and failed to ensure that the pollution that comes out of these plants does not harm human health and the environment, Menefee said. I dont expect that to be any more successful, but well see. Steer clear of days of lost time seeking the internet and dropped money on documents that arent updated. For example, is the definition narrowly limited to seeking application for violative mail-in ballots? Although the ballots were processed, Harris County now intends to include them in the final vote canvass, Christopher Hilton, chief of the Attorney Generals office general litigation division said Monday. Which makes this entire spectacle little more than a plea for attention and a waste of everyones time. If you have a favorite or two among them and a few bucks to spare, Im sure theyd appreciate a contribution. Thats not how a democratic society works. Others rub shoulders with business leaders, politicians, sports figures, and even celebrities. 21 Cause No. Call 888-680-1745 for Central Intake with Dr. Nick Oberheiden Letters From The U.S. Attorney's Office Last Updated: 2023-02-04 Oberheiden, P.C. Alexander Mealer is represented by Elizabeth Alvarez. Hegar, responding to a fresh complaint from Harris County Constable Ted Heap, said county officials had reduced the budget for Heaps Precinct 5 office by some $2.4 million in their most recent budget. i know understandably literally nobody is in the mood to hear about primary runoff election night but i am at NRG arena & feel compelled to tell you that so many people are working very hard (here and across the state) to get votes counted tonight, Jen Rice (@jen_rice_) 10:04 PM 24 May 2022.