The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 7, 2025

Starting point is 00:00:00 Howdy folks, today is Friday, November 7th, and you're listening to the Texans Daily Rundown. I'm the Texans assistant editor Rob Lauchess, and here is the rundown of today's news in Texas politics. First up, after years of growing concern over the way courts have handled dangerous suspects, this week Texans overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment that will allow the denial of bail to those accused of certain violent crimes. Approved by 61% of voters, Proposition 3 allows judges to deny bail to defendants charged with first-degree felony sexual offenses, continuous trafficking of persons, or certain violent crimes, if the district attorney's office presents clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is either unlikely to return for a

Starting point is 00:00:55 court hearing or poses a threat to the public. Next, state representative, John Smithy, who's been a staple of the Texas House since 1985, will not seek re-election next year, he announced on Friday. Smithy was first elected to represent House District 86 in 1984 and is one of the longest serving members in the entire legislature. This year, he chaired the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee and was one of the chief players in the inter-party negotiations on bail reform during the regular session. Proposition 3, one of the bail reform constitutional amendments was passed overwhelmingly by statewide voters on Tuesday. Throughout his long tenure, Smithy, an attorney by trade, chaired the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee and the Insurance Committee. In other news,

Starting point is 00:01:45 a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a lower court ruling that blocked Texas's ban on drag performances with children under 18 years old present in the audience. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas had legally challenged Senate Bill 12 on behalf of the plaintiffs, the Woodlands Pride, Extragrams LLC, 360 Queen Entertainment LLC, Bridget Bandit, and the Abilene Pride Alliance. Their challenge argued that the law is, quote, unconstitutional law that violates the first and 14th amendments and threatens the livelihood and free expression of many Texans, including drag performers. SB 12 was passed during the 88th legislative session in 2023 with the intention of restricting

Starting point is 00:02:33 certain sexually oriented performances in front of children. Also, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is pledging $1 million from his campaign fund to expand Turning Point USA chapters across Texas college and high school campuses, following the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk in September. Patrick said he had a long call with executives from Turning Point on Thursday about how to scale up its presence at high schools and colleges in the Lone Star State, during which he decided to make a, quote, meaningful contribution, end quote, to ensure that every such campus has a Turning Point USA chapter on its grounds. Since Kirk's assassination, Turning Point has received more than 135,000 inquiries related to starting such chapters on high school and college campuses across the country.

Starting point is 00:03:26 In addition, a state board has dismissed grievances filed against former Harris County District Attorney Kim Og. Over public comments, she made about the 2024 killing of a 12-year-old Houston girl for which two illegal immigrants have been charged with capital murder. Jennifer Haisley, one of Ogg's attorneys, said in a statement, quote, These dismissals confirm what we've maintained all along, that former DA Ogg did nothing unethical or improper in speaking publicly about a case of enormous public concern. Filed by criminal defense attorneys for the illegal aliens, as well as Joshua Rice, General Counsel for the Harris County District Attorney's Office,

Starting point is 00:04:07 the complaints related to Ogg's comments made during her time as district attorney and after she left office at the end of last year. Last but not least, Irving, Highland Park, Plano, and Farmers Branch all voted this week to hold elections in May to determine whether the cities will remain members of Dallas Area Rapid Transit or DART. Starting last year, several cities expressed concerns that they were contributing more to the DART system than they were receiving in services. A bill authored by State Representative Matt Shaheen in the 89th legislative session,

Starting point is 00:04:41 sought to reduce the obligation that cities pay into Dart, but that bill did not pass. An Ernst & Young study presented to the Dart Board in September 2024 showed that sales tax collections were greater than allocations for seven cities. Addison, Carrollton, Farmer's Branch, Highland Park, Plano, Richardson, and University Park. Thanks for listening. To support the Texan, please be sure to visit the Texan. News and subscribe to get full access to all of our articles, newsletters, and podcasts.

The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 7, 2025

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