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Texas Senator Joan Huffman talks crusade to prevent defunding law enforcement

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Published  January 9, 2023 7:19pm CST
Texas Politics
FOX 26 Houston

Texas Senator Joan Huffman talks crusade to prevent defunding law enforcement

When lawmakers gavel into session Tuesday, State Senator Joan Huffman says she will begin urging them to provide a financial firewall for every District Attorney in Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas - State Senator Huffman says she’s taking her crusade to prevent defunding of law enforcement up a notch and including those who fight crime in the courtroom.

Two years ago Huffman successfully led the legislative charge to safeguard police budgets and is now aiming to permanently protect funding for prosecutors as well.

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When lawmakers gavel into session Tuesday, Huffman says she will begin urging them to provide a financial firewall for every District Attorney in Texas.

Huffman says she was compelled to act after witnessing Harris County’s top prosecutor Kim Ogg plead for more resources as a violent crime wave hammered the Houston area, only to have those requests largely rejected by a Democratic majority on Commissioner’s Court.

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Huffman told FOX 26 District Attorneys should have the manpower and tools they need to protect the public without fear of political retaliation or reform agendas.

"I have that bill in the hamper, so I will be filing that bill to make sure that District Attorney’s Offices are treated like a law enforcement agency, they cannot be defunded, because we’ve seen that happen in Harris County even when DA Ogg went forward," said Huffman. "The numbers prove she needs more prosecutors. The numbers are staggering, and yet she is not funded in the way she should be funded, and I would hope citizens of Harris County would have an outcry over that."

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Huffman, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, predicts she will attract plenty of support for the measure in both chambers of Republican controlled legislature.