The office provides legal counsel to Harris County government, elected officials, and employees, and represents them in civil lawsuits. Hegars claim is a repeat of a fight thatalready played outbetween the comptroller and Harris County last August. Did you witness something? Hiring or retaining a lawyer is simply too expensive. See here for the background. I dont expect that to be any more successful, but well see. Please complete an event and/or meeting request in its entirety using the link(s) below. Federal law limits the types of requests that the U.S. Attorneys Office can make and the scope of the documentation that it can request. According to the petition filed Monday night,Wayne Dolcefino, a media consultant and former TV journalist,submitted multiple requests for public information on behalf of the Gallery Furniture owner, who was a major donor supporting Republican candidates including County Judge LinaHidalgos opponent Alexandra del Moral Mealer. Ingram said he didnt know the purpose of the provision. The information contained in this site was valid at the time of posting. The Chron has more. Reconsidering how the project will incorporate, Mark Montgomery, former candidate forHarris County Criminal Court at Law No. CultureMap has more. Voting, Board This case will focus on the details of every aspect of the November 8 election in Harris County. A county attorney in Texas has the following duties: Represents the state in prosecuting misdemeanor criminal cases. Circuit Court of Appeals has put a temporary hold on a preliminary injunction that had blocked enforcement of a rule that keeps local election officials from encouraging voters to request mail-in ballots, according to Harris County officials. That doesnt mean Ill agree with every decision they made, but I start out with the belief that they did their best to act in our interest. But I still dont have to like it. CLUBS IN ACTION is trying to raise 95K to donate to them. 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. But I will send out word when I learn more. 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 am requesting that the Harris County Elections Administrator take the actions required by the Texas Election Code..
Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee gave the following statement in response: "Comptroller Hegar's statement is false. Second, the lawyer will start identifying their objectives and lining up what evidence theyll need to win their case. Up until March, the board primarily approved and renewed bail bondsman licenses. 2023-00932; Chris Daniel v. Marilyn Burgess. In the letter to the attorney general's office, Bitter, the general counsel for the secretary of state's office, wrote that an election clerk may effectively have to break state law in order to comply with a request for ballots so soon after an election. Upon receiving a sworn statement challenging a voters residence, election officials must send a Notice of Address Confirmation to the voter in question. Former officer Gerald Goines led a raid on the home, which police believed to. If the past is any guide, the local governments are unlikely to prevail in court, said University of Texas School of Law Adjunct Professor Randall Erben. If the facts as stated above are accurate, then this really is another case of political math being used in place of, well, math. Houston, Texas Today, several losing Republican candidates filed election contests to void the more than 1 million votes cast in Harris Countys November 2022 election. As shown by Attorney General . Dont ever give them an inch. I am a bot whose sole purpose is to improve the timeliness and accuracy of responses in this subreddit. We have the knowledge and skills to get results. That link takes you here, and while the in-person fundraiser mentioned there is now over, the Donate link remains. I wish the stories that have been published about this would go into more detail about this as I have done yes, I know, math is hard, but you could at least use highly unlikely language to offer some context. NEW I, along with @LinaHidalgoTX and @LongoriaTx, requested that the DOJ do everything in its power to ensure that despite the impacts of SB1 and the high percentage of mail ballot rejections, every eligible voter has their vote counted in our elections in Harris County. 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. Bandit signs are typically small and placed in large quantities along public spaces as esplanades. If you need to write a similar letter. For a demand letter in Harris County, call on the attorneys at The Dushkin Law Firm. Now, someone wakes up on Election Day and suddenly thinks law enforcement officials and deputized election officers are an issue?. The Harris County GOPpushed backon the countys plan, arguing only election judges are allowed to transport ballots and instructing Republican election judges to drive ballots themselves. Minutes, Corporate This is not some sort of radical rebellion, he said. This 11th-hour ask to throw those votes away should not be tolerated, especially considering the State rejected the Countys offer to hold off on counting these votes while it sought clarification from the Supreme Court, Werner added. 1 subjects me to criminal prosecution for encouraging eligible voters to vote by mail so they may participate in our democracy an option they have under Texas law.. Hidalgos opponent Alexandra del Moral Mealer. We are investigating this issue and exploring legal options to protect residents and prevent this from happening again, the County Attorneys office said in a statement, adding it is working closely with the Harris County Elections Administrators office to fully understand what happened. An investigator with the AGs Election Integrity Unit spoke to Icsezen in December of 2020, and apparently concluded that this was basically a misunderstanding of an unclear law, and did not warrant further action. Nothing else of great interest in this group Id expect both Ed Gonzalez and Christian Menefee to start posting bigger numbers soon. Harris County Attorney's Office 1019 Congress, 15th Floor Houston, TX 77002 Office: 713-755-5101 Fax: 713-755-8924
[email protected] Harris County Attorney's Office Staff Directory For Media Inquiries Media Hotline: 832-544-8045
[email protected] To Report Price Gouging Click hereto file a report. The letter, addressed to Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan on Nov. 25, concludes the appointment of Isabel Longoria as the county's first election administrator is "unlawful and null and void When the Texas Election Networks canvassing efforts in Sunnyside came to light in early July, County Attorney Christian Menefees office said it was investigating this issue and exploring legal options to protect residents and prevent this from happening again., Asked about the status of the investigation this week, county attorney spokesperson Roxanne Werner said, Although we have not found any further activity by this group, we are continuing to monitor the situation and will take action if appropriate. On its own motion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has certified the following questions to the Court: (1) Whether Volunteer Deputy Registrars are public officials under the Texas Election Code; (2) Whether the speech Plaintiffs allege that they intend to engage in constitutes solicitation within the context of Texas Election Code 276.016(a)(1). Change, Waiver Judge Horwitz is represented by John Raley. The ballots in question were cast during a one-hour period on Nov. 8. Voters have moved on. The Texas Transportation Commission kept I-45 in its funding plans a few months ago, and some design work was allowed to continue, but now theres another federal complaint filed against the project by various opponents. Claim your certified mail. Berrys office said Heap actually received $48.5 million. 1 makes it a crime for me to do a critical part of my job, and it hurts the most vulnerable voters, saidIsabel Longoria, Harris County Election Administrator. With fewer people needing bail bonds because fewer people were being assessed bail, bail bond companies saw their revenues decline and so they looked for new customers by lowering their fees so as to entice those who were still being required to pay bail but couldnt afford their fees. I would retain a lawyer and do not talk to any police officers. Thank You!!!! UPDATE: The Trib story also references 2,000 ballots, which does not help clear up my confusion. Judge Fleischer is represented by John Raley. To get some of those benefits, officials first have to iron out technical issue that not only affect the$10 billion rebuild of I-45and the downtown freeway system, but numerous other mobility projects that cross it. In the interim, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Garcia, who both were outspoken about the need for changes to the design, were reelected. Think about sending the document to your legal counsel to make certain all things are completed properly. Even at the highest end of the estimate of locations that had issues, more than 90% of them did not. The County will participate in the case, and we plan to make clear that it would be a grave injustice to throw out more than a million legally cast votes, especially given Ms. Luncefords completely baseless theories. Trust, Living See here for the background. The odds that Jones could lose the entire 360 vote net he got from the E-Day provisionals plus another 90 votes in this subset of the total ballots just strike me as extremely remote. The main takeaway here is that not only can you not trust anything Paxton says, you also cant trust anything his office says, even if they sign their names to it. . This was separate from all of those, which I confirmed with the County Attorney Office. 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. 2023-01066; Dan Simons v. Judge Sedrick Walker. At the same time, party leaders are threatening GOP state lawmakers who control the Texas Legislature with increased sanctions if they dont support the platform, including potentially spending tens of thousands of dollars directly to oppose them in future primaries. Stacey M. Soule, State Prosecuting Attorney. With voters walking into polling places and ballots set to arrive at NRG Arena in a few hours, Harris Countys Republican Party has challenged the process election officials will use to transfer ballots from locations to the central counting center, citing concerns with handing the machines over to anyone but precinct judges. Of those, Shah said, 66 were rejected because they did not meet statutory requirements and contained incomplete information.. 2023-00937; Matthew Dexter v. Judge Genesis Draper.
Harris County Clerk's Office She cited the example of barratry, where lawyers unlawfully solicit clients for profit. 95% Success Rate. I really do believe they did the best they could and that were overall in a much better place than when we started and that we worked hard for it. That means the ball is in the state governments court, he said, which will have to make a move if it wants to change the status quo before Monday.. Target letters inform the recipients that they are the target of a federal investigation, which means that the government intends to press civil or , The letters stem from the investigation into the 2019 drug raid of a small home on Harding Street in south Houston. right-of-way is an excellent plan but we can't even fix the existing bike trail along White Oak Bayou which the Harris County . Business. For more information contact the Information & Public Service Department at 713-274-6390 or email
[email protected]. Raising this as a First Amendment issue makes sense to me, and maybe it will make sense to the courts as well. Its not clear to me where things are procedurally with this litigation and remember, there are a bunch of other cases as well but in this matter the Fifth Circuit wanted to get some clarity on state law before doing whatever it has on its docket to do.
Public Information Requests - Houston City of Houston and Harris County Statements on EPA Order for Union Pacific Contamination Cleanup, Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee Responds to Texas Comptroller, Harris County Attorney Announces Legal Action Against Landfill Expansion. Please update the original post to include this information. If the questions are not answered, she would therefore still need to have the temporary injunction in place, he said. By the time this runs in the morning well know what the official canvass says, and from there well see if an election challenge will follow. Templates, Name This is one of the precise situations I have been most worried about this election people in shadowy volunteer groups who suggest in one way or another that they are acting under official authority questioning the eligibility of voters directly by knocking on their doors, Slattery said. Theres already been a lot of time for talk, and I dont know how much latitude TxDOT has to give. 12(lost to Judge Genesis Draper), Brian Staley, former candidate forHarris County Civil County Court at Law No. Our hospital system will operate at a $45 million deficit, Hidalgo said. Lawyers tend to squeeze in short vacations whenever they can. Oh, and the second place where there might be a Democratic primary fight worth watching is in Precinct 1. The election has been certified by Commissioners Court, which if nothing else avoids the drama of any further delays. The Press has more. And of course there can always be election contests.
Office of Harris County District Clerk - Marilyn Burgess | Customer Service I cant tell if this is just using a round number because exact figures are confusing or if this is the exact figure. Get more than 85,000 state-specific legal and tax samples that you could save and complete in clicks in the Forms library. 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. 12 Cause No. Both parties had the opportunity to ask questions, review the chain of custody document, and raise issues. I am disappointed that the Fifth Circuit has undone the preliminary injunction that protected Administrator (Isabel) Longorias First Amendment rights, Menefee said in a written statement. The project, estimated to cost at least $9 billion, would rebuild and widen I-45 from downtown Houston north to Beltway 8, including the freeways interchanges with Interstate 69, Interstate 10 and Loop 610 in Independence Heights. I am taking the following steps to comply with the letter and spirit of Section 171.004. Estates, Forms As to who might file a contest, again well have to see. We made a good step the last time, but we are not there yet, State Sen. Bob Hall, a Republican from Edgewood, said about last years election reforms packages that reduced early voting hours in places like Harris County and put new restrictions on mail-in voting. The Harris County Attorneys Office whose attorneys were unaware of the judges ruling until the order was uploaded Monday to the Harris County District Clerks Office defended the Bail Bond Board against the lawsuit. That would require dividing the short fiscal year by 16 pay periods and multiplying that by 26 to cover the whole year, she said. Forms, Real Estate That would not be a cheap race as things stand now, as you can see. Menefee told the Houston Chronicle Tuesday evening that he believes the July 29 order violates the Texas Disaster Act of 1975, which he said grants the governor the power limited authority to suspend laws. 2023-00964; Alexandra Mealer v. Lina Hidalgo. My school is a party school but I'm a commuter student, from a different state in fact. Tenant, More What could the letter waiting for me be about? Thus far, the Harris County Attorneys Office has identified filings by (and we expect more filings to be made today): These filings are in addition to previously announced contests by: Below is the statement from the County Attorney released this morning: This is a shameful attempt by a group of losing candidates who couldnt win the hearts and minds of Harris County voters and are now throwing nonsensical legal theories at the wall to see what sticks. Agreements, LLC 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. County Attorney Christian Menefee and Lone Star lawyers alleged in separate complaints to the EPA earlier this year that the state agency discriminated against Black and Latino residents when they didnt adequately ensure communities would be protected and didnt appropriately seek input from people who arent fluent in English. They were wrong back when they tried this the first time the comptroller and his allies and theyre wrong again now, County Judge Lina Hidalgo said before the court met in executive session Thursday. There may be an opinion in the future that addresses that question.. The mayor announced Thursday that Arturo G. Michel is returning to government as City Attorney for the City of Houston. To say the least, that would be an extraordinary circumstance. Theres no explanation for it hes just flat wrong. Leave it doesnt sound so bad given the alternative. Last year, TCEQ approved an amendment that included exemptions for emission limitations for concrete batch plants, in response to an application to construct a plant by a Fort Worth concrete company. Shah said the office will work in coordination with the county attorneys office to review and determine the validity of all challenges on a case-by-case basis after the midterm election. And facilities are often in communities of color not wealthy, white River Oaks making what has been happening clear environmental racism, state Sen. Borris Miles said. The Harris County Attorney's Office fights for the interests of Harris County through the civil justice system to preserve access to clean air and water; ensure safe, healthy neighborhoods; protect consumers against fraud, exploitation, and other bad acts; and defend voting rights. If you throw out all of the Election Day provisional ballots, DaSean Jones still leads by 89 votes. Which, despite this being Montgomery County, and despite it being entirely his show, declined to indict Icsezen on whatever charges Paxton had dreamed up. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Seems like theres not that much in dispute, but theres always something. Some lawyers travel the country, or even the world, to participate in trials, depositions, arbitrations, and business deals. First of all , the individual will have the guidance and information they need to begin negotiating a settlement rather than immediately preparing for court. The case, Paxton v. Longoria, concerns a First-Amendment issue over how provisions in Senate Bill 1, a 2021 law, could lead to civil penalties and or criminal prosecution of county election administrators and volunteer deputy registrars. 3 Cause No. Luncefords opponent, Democrat Tamika Craft, won the election by 0.26 percent of the vote. The Election Administrators office notified Republican election judges they could opt in to the countys plan if they wished, and at least 31 of them did so. The judges listed as well as Lina have little in their campaign coffers. Privacy | in the final count and seeking clarification so that the parties can pursue any legal remedies, if necessary., In a statement Monday, Harris County Attorneys office spokesperson Roxanne Werner said: Representatives from the Attorney Generals office and the Harris County Republican Party asked for the language describing that process to be removed from the agreed order, leaving Harris County to process and count the late ballots as they would other provisional ballots while ensuring they were kept segregated. For months, election administrators in Texas and across the country have been fielding records requests from activists intent on re-examining every ballot cast in every election since November 2020 or, in some cases, even earlier. A county attorney tried to send me mail through USPS the other day when I wasn't home. The feds later asked TxDOT to pause other work on the project as well. Service, Contact The ban on sending unsolicited mail-voting applications was one of many provisions containedinSenate Bill 1, the sweeping GOP voting law that was passed Sept. 1during the Legislatures second special session. Oh, and if this is one of the final straws that leads to Constable precinct redistricting, I wont complain. 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. Houston, Harris County and the Texas Department of Transportation have an agreed path forward for rebuilding Interstate 45, and a lot of steps to get there. Oberheiden, P.C. 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. 15 Cause No. I can't seem to place how this letter pertains to me at all. . 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.
Harris County Attorney Denies the County is Resolving Texas Comptroller Ron DeSantis is questioning the actions of State Attorney Monique Worrell over how she handled cases involving . Adding huge swaths of concrete is the opposite of what Houston needs, Houstonian Joy Fairchild said during a public hearing for TxDOTsUnified Transportation Program. At an Oct. 21 forum sponsored by Transportation Advocacy Group-Houston Chapter, Texas Transportation Commissioner Laura Ryan said the pause by the Federal Highway Administration and county lawsuit were more of an obstacle to open dialogue because they impede TxDOT from designing alternatives. Id like to see a whole lot more money spent on non-highway expansion transit, sidewalks and bike trails, flood mitigation, that sort of thing and a whole lot more effort and resources put into designing and building urban and suburban environments where people can live closer to where the work and shop and eat and go to school so that highway driving is less necessary. Still, others have been pleasantly surprised when what was once an existential threat is transformed into a manageable inconvenience. 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. Operating Agreements, Employment The group represents Harris County and numerous entities including the Harris County Appraisal Review Board, the Harris County Toll Road Authority, the Harris County Tax Office, the Harris County Sheriffs Office, the Harris County Constables, and the Harris County Fire Marshals Office. Harris County gives 3 for one on non-violent offense but not DWI or BMV. Thats not how a democratic society works. local news and culture, Faith Bugenhagen Judge Peeples is based in San Antonio, and was appointed by the Honorable Susan Brown, the Presiding Judge of the Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region of Texas.
[email protected]. Center, Small The Republicans picked the judges with some of the smallest accounts. 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. Who Should T.H. My penalties read as "punishable by not less than five days nor more than 90 days imprisonment and a fine of not less than $25, nor more than $500". The county received the second largest settlement for a local government in the nation. S.B. I dont know how likely that is, but it never hurts to talk. The Environmental Practice Group enforces environmental laws and related County development regulations. Works with law enforcement officers in the investigation of criminal cases. My guess is that the states response will be some combination of you cant sue us and neener neener neener, secure in the belief that the Fifth Circuit will undo anything Judge Biery does. The same way that the Secretary of State is deputizing these people in his office to speak on behalf of the Secretary of State on statutory matters, to perform his statutory duties, the elections administrator is deputizing individuals to carry out duties and responsibilities and functions that are otherwise prescribed to be discharged by the elections administrator, Birnberg said.