Texas lawmakers delay bill keeping unsubstantiated complaints against officers from the public

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Democrats successfully delayed the advancement of a bill that would let law enforcement agencies across the state keep unsubstantiated complaints against officers private.

During Monday’s debate on the House floor, Democratic state Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso raised a point of order — a parliamentary procedure that aims to delay or kill legislation on a technicality — against Senate Bill 15 on the grounds that its subject matter is not included in Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda for the second special legislative session. Close to an hour later, the point of order was sustained because the bill focuses on departmental files and not personnel files as called for in Abbott’s proclamation.

State Rep. Cole Hefner, the Mt. Pleasant Republican sponsoring SB 15, subsequently said he is confident that the governor would add the legislation’s topic to the expanded agenda. House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, has also previously promised to accomplish all items on the governor’s agenda by Labor Day weekend.

“The bill will be back soon,” Hefner said in a Monday text to The Texas Tribune.

A day later, the state Legislature was instructed to consider “legislation that protects law enforcement officers from public disclosure of unsubstantiated complaints and other information maintained in law enforcement agency files,” according to a message from Abbott that was read during a meeting of the Texas Senate. This addressed the technical error highlighted by Moody’s point of order.

The proposal, if adopted, would require law enforcement agencies to create a confidential department file — also called a “G-file” — to hold any unsubstantiated allegations against an officer as well as those that did not result in disciplinary actions.

The G-file would also include “any letter, memorandum or document” related to the officer that are not their substantiated misconduct complaints, commendations, awards or periodic evaluations. Those remaining records would be in the officer’s personnel file, which would still be publicly accessible through the state’s open records law.

Hefner said Monday that the bill is about standardizing public disclosure policy of law enforcement agencies across Texas.

Critics, however, have previously said SB 15 would limit police transparency and accountability.

The bill currently allows certain materials to be released, such as body-worn camera footage. It would also not impede disclosures required by criminal investigations and court processes as mandated under the Sandra Bland and Michael Morton Acts, or affect Austin’s local police oversight policy.

Before the point of order, House Democrats also introduced six amendments to clarify the bill’s language or add measures to maintain public information access. All of them failed.

One amendment was presented by Moody to ensure that the bill doesn’t reopen the dead suspects loophole, which law enforcement agencies once used to withhold information when suspects die in police custody or at the hands of officers before receiving a conviction or deferred adjudication. The state Legislature closed it in 2023.

“I don't believe this bill opens that loophole back up,” Hefner said.

“I respectfully disagree,” Moody responded.

SB 15 follows a 2023 state review of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which requires that the agency “standardizes what documentation needs to be included in a license holder’s personnel file.”

Around 26,000 peace officers currently have confidential files similar to what is being proposed, according to Jennifer Szimanski, the deputy executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas. These include officers in some of the state’s largest cities that have opted into the state framework for police and firefighters’ civil service, such as Houston and San Antonio.

The bill, if adopted, would extend the use of G-files to every law enforcement agency across the state. There are currently under 110,000 peace officers and jailers in Texas, according to TCOLE.

In hearings leading up to the Monday debate, multiple law enforcement agencies testified to lawmakers that some departments already have confidential personnel files in place — and this change would unify them under one standard. They also said disclosures of unsubstantiated complaints could be to defame officers.

“This is a prime example of why this legislation is needed. Too many stand ready to try an officer in the court of public opinion every opportunity they get. This negatively impacts the profession and law enforcement’s relationship with the communities they serve,” said Szimanski.

On the other hand, critics like Kathy Mitchell, a criminal justice policy advocate with Equity Action, also raised concerns about how the bill would affect the disclosure of police records related to the Uvalde shooting. The Texas Department of Public Safety continues fighting a judge’s order to release hundreds of videos and investigative files of the botched response to the worst school shooting in Texas history.

During the Senate floor hearing on Aug. 18, Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio also grilled the bill’s author, Republican state Sen. Phil King of Weatherford, about this issue. King said the bill would not have an impact on lawsuits. Gutierrez countered that the state’s Open Records Act should preclude the need for lawsuits in the first place.

The bill cleared the Texas Senate a day later with a 18-12 vote.

Attorney CJ Girsham also told lawmakers the bill would require the average Texan to hire an attorney and go to court to use the discovery process to get police files, an expensive and unnecessary step in the criminal justice system.

“What we are doing is saying to the public, because there are some people out there who file frivolous lawsuits, you don’t deserve to know what this officer is accused of before,” he said.

In addition, some critics said the bill could lead officers — especially those in smaller agencies with fewer resources to shield themselves from conflicts of interest — to disregard or downplay complaints. They also noted that the proposal does not explicitly require agencies to conduct an internal investigation of any kind before marking a claim as unsubstantiated.

“It creates an extremely perverse incentive for them to never find anything wrong,” said Chris Harris of the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Some Republican lawmakers have previously raised similar concerns.

“A chief that’s befriended somebody that is a subordinate could continue to hide wrongful action,” state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, said during this year’s first special legislative session.

King, however, argued that SB 15 would create proper guardrails for these small agencies.

“There are probably law enforcement agencies out there that basically have no files other than the minimal amount that TCOLE might require them to keep,” he said. “I think that this puts a model policy in place that every law enforcement agency is going to have to follow, and everybody will know what all the rules are.”

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