Remade Texas Judicial Conduct Commission to Take Public Comment Oct. 7

The state agency that investigates complaints against Texas judges will sit and listen to the public Oct. 7, holding the hearing state law requires of it every two years. It is the first since voters rewrote who sits on the panel, and anyone who wants to speak has to sign in at the Austin hearing room starting at 8:45 a.m.

Voters approved Proposition 12 in November 2025 by roughly 62 percent, and it took effect Jan. 1. The measure also reached the tribunal that reviews the commission’s recommendations and the power to sanction judges, but its plainest change was to the panel itself. Under the amendment, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct still seats 13, and six are judges chosen by the Texas Supreme Court. The citizen seats the governor fills went from five to seven — a majority — and the two seats the State Bar of Texas used to hold were eliminated. Both groups need Senate confirmation, and the Legislature does not convene again until January.

The turnover was abrupt. On July 1 the commission announced that five members’ terms had expired under the amendment and that they would no longer serve: Gary Steel, Carey F. Walker, Kathy Ward, Tano E. Tijerina and Sylvia Borunda Firth. The release alleges no wrongdoing by any of them and thanks them for their service. Two weeks earlier the governor had named five citizen members — among them a crime victims’ advocate, a victim-services director at Crime Stoppers Houston and a policy researcher at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The commission lists its chair, vice chair and secretary as interim officers.

The hearing itself is narrow by design. The statute tells the commission to take comment “regarding the commission’s mission and operations,” and to handle it so it does not compromise the confidentiality of matters the commission considers — so speakers should not expect the panel to discuss any particular complaint or judge. What is on the table is the agency itself. It takes complaints against judges at every level of the Texas courts, and the governor’s office described its powers in June as running up to recommending that a judge be retired, censured, suspended or removed from office. Would-be speakers must also complete a Witness Affirmation Form, which was not posted on the agency’s site as of the drafting date.

Watch who takes the microphone, and whether the new members answer. It is the only hearing of this kind the law asks of the commission this year, and the next one is not due until 2028.

Meeting at a glance

Commission members

• Ken Wise — Houston; interim chair; appellate justice; Supreme Court appointee; term ends 2031.
• Andrew “Andy” Kahan — Houston; interim vice chair; citizen member; term ends 2031.
• Derek M. Cohen — Austin; interim secretary; citizen member; term ends 2029.
• Wayne Money — Greenville; judge member; Supreme Court appointee; term ends 2029.
• Sid L. Harle — San Antonio; judge member; term ends 2029.
• Kevin Yeary — Austin; judge member; term ends 2027.
• Ana E. Estevez — Amarillo; judge member; term ends 2027.
• Grant Dorfman — Houston; judge member; term ends 2031.
• April I. Aguirre — Pasadena; citizen member; term ends 2029.
• Yinon Weiss — Austin; citizen member; term ends 2031.
• Tracy L. Harrison — Friendswood; citizen member; term ends 2031.
• JJ Isbell — Houston; citizen member; term ends 2027.
• Martin Deleon Jr. — Corpus Christi; citizen member; term ends 2027.

Roster checked September 28, 2026 against the commission’s commissioners page, which lists all 13 seats filled and groups the three officers under a heading reading Interim Officers, and against the governor’s appointment release of June 15, 2026, which matches the cities and term dates printed for Aguirre, Cohen, Kahan, Harrison and Weiss. Seat labels follow the commission’s own two categories; the site renders citizen members as public members. Cities are reproduced as the commission lists them. The amendment bars two judge members from sitting on the same type of court, but the commission does not print each judge member’s current court, so no claim is made here about whether the roster meets that test. Executive Director Jacqueline Habersham heads a staff of 18 listed on the agency’s staff page. Contact: (512) 463-5533.