AUSTIN, Texas — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is requesting state senators to reform the impeachment process. 

What You Need To Know

  • Nearly one year ago, Patrick condemned the Texas House of Representatives over its handling of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial

  • Patrick’s proposal includes that House testimony be given under oath and be subject to cross-examination

  • The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs is expected to discuss impeachment reform before the January legislative session

In his second round of interim charges, Patrick tasked senators to make recommendations to ensure a fair and transparent process. Nearly one year ago, Patrick condemned the Texas House of Representatives over its handling of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial. 

“The speaker and his team rammed through the first impeachment of a statewide official in Texas in over 100 years while paying no attention to the precedent that the House set in every other impeachment before,” said Patrick at the end of the trial. 

The Texas House voted to impeach Paxton two days after receiving evidence that claimed the attorney general misused the powers of his office to help his friend and donor Nate Paul, who was under federal investigation.

“An undercurrent that will be present in this entire reform process will be an implicit critique of how Dade Phelan handled the articles of impeachment process within the House,” said Rice University professor of political sciences Mark Jones.  

House Democrats and many Republicans voted to impeach Paxton. Rep. Ann Johnson, D-Houston, served as vice chair of the House Committee on General Investigating.  

“I hope that the people of Texas will know that the people they elected in the Texas House followed the rules and we followed the ethics,” said Johnson. 

But Some Republicans critiqued the process, calling it vague. 

“It was if an atom bomb had just dropped out of space and just hit us just right squarely on the House,” said Cypress Rep. Tom Oliverson. 

Oliverson is one of the four representatives campaigning to replace Phelan as the next speaker of the House, in part because of Phelan’s handling of the impeachment process. 

“We probably will see some colleagues bringing some bills for reform based off of those experiences,” said Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Granbury, who is also running for speaker. 

Patrick’s proposal includes that House testimony be given under oath and be subject to cross-examination. Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, tracked roll call votes in the Senate during the impeachment trial and is on the committee tasked to look at impeachment reform. He says the process needs to be thorough. 

“Taking witnesses that hadn’t been presented to the House and then seeing them under cross-examination in the Senate. That really should have happened in the House,” said Bettencourt. 

The Senate Committee on State Affairs is expected to discuss impeachment reform before the January legislative session.