A Bill that got almost no play and no comment last session was SB1124.
This bill requires “Five years of law enforcement experience or 10 years of military service and an Active Permanent Law Enforcement License”, just to get on the ballot or be appointed sheriff in Texas. It goes into effect in Sept and candidates are already being told they cannot apply to run.
There are no such licenses available in Texas. So over 100 politicians in Austin, along with their staff voted failed to notice?
Only three Texas senators and 30 people in the House voted against it, which are probably the only people that deserve reelection.
I don’t think even the swamp creatures are so stupid as to vote to require a non-existent license to be sheriff, so what gives?
The Texas Sheriff’s Association mentioned the law at their last convention and since the law requires something that is impossible it can safely be ignored. If push comes to shove a judge will declare it unconstitutional.
So why pass it? Like any good con, the trick is to make the mark believe they have spotted the flaw without seeing the bigger flaw and boy did most people fall for it.
Right now a lot of people are having a great laugh that 100+ lawmakers and their staff, including the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House would miss such a stupid mistake. Next session they will have to remove the word “Permanent”.
Don’t join in the laughter. Removing the word “Permanent” means many small Texas Counties will have a Sheriff for life. Many small counties in Texas have nobody with an “Active Law Enforcement License and five years of experience”, except their current sheriff. Small counties are sort of famous for training deputies for a couple of years and then seeing them move on to greener and higher paying pastures.
Imagine you are a county out of “Walking Tall”. Tough luck, nobody but the corrupt sheriff would be allowed on the ballot. Any chance the sheriff needs to worry about re-election as long as no deputy serves more than four years?
Now you see my issue with the law but as they say in the ads, “That’s not all folks”. What happens when your “sheriff for life” dies or retires? The requirements to run are also the requirements for your county commissioners to appoint a replacement. What happens if nobody in the county has the active license AND the years in service?
Austin stepped in and “fixed” a problem that was not very large. Senator King’s bill sought to remove the fact that anyone could run for and win a sheriff’s race and then MIGHT NOT earn their law enforcement license within the two years they had in the past. I have never heard of this happening but with 243 counties it might happen every once in a while. Why not pass a law saying that person is removed from office at that point and a special election is held to replace them that they are barred from participating in? That makes a lot more sense to me than making it impossible for tens of millions of Texans to run for office. It makes more sense that making it impossible for a retired sheriff with 20 years of experience to run because he wants to come out of retirement.
Why would Austin want to create a situation where nobody in a county could run for or be appointed sheriff?
Expect this to happen if this law is allowed to be “fixed” and passes again. Expect a small Texas County to have nobody qualified to run or be appointed sheriff and expect Austin to “fix” that problem by creating a law that allows the state to find and hire a “qualified” candidate. Once that candidate is installed, they will be you new “sheriff for life”. This candidate will owe their job to the state, not the voters.
Oregon and Washington are already moving in this direction and Texas will be next. Why? Many sheriffs obeyed their oath to the Constitution and to the people during the unconstitutional lockdowns.
You will no longer be able to vote for anyone you choose for sheriff, you will be able to vote for anyone Austin chooses, oh, nevermind, since nobody else will be allowed on the ballot, you will not be voting for sheriff, ever.
Perhaps this is just a trial run to see if people react. If it stands, maybe the next bill will set requirements for legislators. I think making a law degree a requirement to run for Senator or State Representative might get almost as many votes as SB1124.
Again, you will be able to vote for anyone they allow to run and by that time, what will be the point?
For more, please visit https://thefivestarplan.com/.
