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    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    TX - Lawmaker offers plan to make DPS border presence permanent

    By David Saleh Rauf | March 2, 2015

    AUSTIN – A top lieutenant for Speaker Joe Straus is proposing the House allocate more money for border security to fund an unspecified number of new troopers along the Texas-Mexico perimeter, a plan being pitched as one that would end the need for future high-profile border surges.

    State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, unveiled a wide-ranging border security measure Monday that, in part, authorizes Department of Public Safety troopers to work 10 hour days, imposes tougher penalties on smugglers and allows DPS to set up checkpoints within 250 yards of the border. The bill also would create a "DPS Officer Reserve Corps" of retired troopers to help police with background checks and sex offender compliance.

    The main thrust of Bonnen's proposal is to end the state's "off again, on again" approach of calling up troopers from all over Texas to implement so-called surge missions.

    "We're stopping the surge and stop. We're creating a long-term plan," said Bonnen, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee and was flanked by about three-dozen lawmakers at a news conference Monday.

    State officials last summer OK'd tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to fund a surge operation led by the DPS to deal with an influx of Central American children pouring into Texas. Late last year, officials approved another $86 million to continue the surge, with the bulk of that money being directed to keep the increased DPS presence along the border through August.

    Roughly seven weeks into 140-day legislative session, border security has remained a hot topic at the Capitol.

    Gov. Greg Abbott has named it an emergency item, setting the issue on the fast track for passage in the first 60 days of the legislative session. He also voiced support for keeping National Guard troops in the border region until DPS can beef up its ranks there with an additional 500 state troopers and Texas Rangers. Abbott has recommended doubling border security spending.

    The Senate is proposing about $800 million for border security in its starting-point budget, while the House's base budget includes roughly $400 million for border security.

    On Monday, Bonnen did not release any concrete figures for an expected cost or an anticipated number of new troopers for border. He said the House Appropriations Committee will figure out that part.

    State Rep. John Otto, the House's top budget writer, said full implementation of the bill will require the lower chamber to add to its starting point budget for border security. He declined to offer a potential dollar figure, saying his committee would know more after hearing from DPS Director Steve McCraw at a Tuesday hearing.

    "The base was never intended to cover the ultimate solution that has been unveiled today," said State Rep. John Otto, R-Dayton, and the House's top budget writer. "The House is committed to funding what is necessary to accomplish the goals that have been laid out in this piece of legislation."

    Asked how many new troopers would be needed along the border, Otto also declined to provide an estimate, saying, "I will know better tomorrow after Col. McCraw tells us how many troopers he can train and get deployed on the border."

    Democrats Monday said they needed to fully vet the bill but cautioned that the measure could have unintended consequences. State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, said Democrats will be focused on ensuring the proposed checkpoints "don't inhibit lawful trade" and that additional trooper deployments make sense financially.

    "I'm all about looking at the numbers to make sure the tax payer money were spending is being used wisely and has an important return on investment," he said.

    http://www.chron.com/news/politics/t...ce-6111051.php
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    Major border security bills unveiled

    March 2, 2015
    Matthew Waller

    AUSTIN — Texas House lawmakers launched major efforts to secure the border long-term and in a way that could get the Texas National Guard off the front lines.

    Representatives announced three bills: one that would strengthen the position of the Texas Department of Public Safety at the border over the long haul, one to tackle crimes at the border more effectively and another to address human trafficking.

    "We're here today again not by choice but by necessity," said state Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, as he announced his House Bill 11 and criticized the federal government for allegedly not securing the border.

    He said issues with border security can run from drug addiction to human smuggling throughout the state.

    "Crime that comes through the border rarely stays at the border," Bonnen said. "Border crime is not just a border problem."

    His bill would hire certified police officers as troopers and allow for 10-hour workdays for DPS troopers so as not to shift officers from other parts of the state.

    There would be a DPS Officer Reserve Corps created of retired officers to help police statewide with duties such as background investigations and sex offender compliance checks. There would be more serious penalties for smugglers, and human smuggling would be classified as organized crime.

    The plan includes new southbound checkpoints within 250 yards of the border to catch stolen vehicles, guns and money before being smuggled into Mexico.

    A multiagency border crime information center would be set up and led by Rio Grande Valley law enforcement with help from the DPS.

    Another requirement would be for law enforcement groups to adopt the National Incident Based Reporting System for crime data uniformity in the state.

    Bonnen didn't have a price tag for his bill, saying it would be up to the budget-writing lawmakers to decide how many more troopers are needed.

    Asked about how the bill relates to the Texas National Guard, Bonnen said the bill should get the guard "off the border sooner."

    State Rep. Oscar Longoria, D-Mission, created HB 12 to establish the Border Prosecution Unit in state law to help prosecute border-related crimes such as drug smuggling, extortion and human trafficking.

    "Border apprehensions do little to keep Texas safe" if a perpetrator is released to commit crime, Longoria said, hence the need for help with prosecution.

    State Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, said her bill extends the statute of limitations for compelling prostitution of minors, trains the judiciary in human trafficking and establishes a child sex trafficking prevention unit.

    "From the border to the Panhandle, we know that we need to ensure that those who are at the front lines combating trafficking are able to work quickly and efficiently, and more importantly, we need to ensure that the victims of the crimes are properly taken care of," Thompson said.

    http://www.caller.com/news/state/sta...eiled_79906573
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  3. #3
    MW
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    Gov. Greg Abbott may end up being the best thing to happen to Texas in quite some time. He certainly seems to be a lot better on the illegal immigrant/border security issue than the three governors before him.

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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