Parole board rewrites the policies governing its most restricted release votes

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles meets Thursday to rewrite four policies that govern its hardest decisions — the cases where letting someone out takes five of seven members rather than two of three.

Most parole decisions in Texas are made by three-member panels on a simple majority. For a short list of offenses — aggravated sexual assault, continuous sexual abuse of a young child, indecency with a child by contact, continuous trafficking of persons, and cases where someone must serve 35 calendar years first — state law demands an extraordinary vote: every member votes and two-thirds must say yes. With seven seats, that is five. The requirement dates to a 1995 law. The board’s own policy still describes it as reaching capital felonies, a category lawmakers dropped in 2005 when life without parole took its place, and all four policies on the agenda were last signed in 2021 by a chairman who left in 2024.

A second pair of items covers what happens after a denial. A 2015 law lets the board push the next review as far as ten years out, rather than the usual five, for people serving time for aggravated sexual assault or a life sentence for a capital felony. A third policy covers denials generally. A fourth covers medical parole, the track that can release someone who is terminally ill, elderly or severely disabled and judged not to be a threat — decisions state law routes through a panel the presiding officer personally sits on.

Underneath the policy votes sits a much larger rewrite. Members take up initial readoption of nearly all the board’s rules — clemency, parole, revocation, sex offender conditions, mandatory supervision — under the law requiring agencies to revisit every rule within four years. Two chapters are up for repeal. None of it has reached the Texas Register, so the public comment period on these changes has not opened. A committee met the afternoon before to work through the chapters one by one.

One thing is absent from the agenda: any item for public comment. Board policy lets people speak on matters within its jurisdiction, though never on an individual parole or clemency case, and the online sign-up form is still live; prior meetings have carried the item. Members also discuss a budget request due to lawmakers August 21 — the board does not file its own, riding instead inside the prison system’s. Watch whether anyone is heard from the floor Thursday.

Meeting at a glance

Board members

• Marsha Moberley, Gatesville office — presiding officer; former parole commissioner.
• Elodia Brito, Amarillo office — 21 years with the federal district court there.
• Sandra Fletcher, Angleton office — former parole commissioner and hearing officer.
• Clint Gunnels, Huntsville office — former prison system institutional parole director.
• Brian Long, Palestine office — former board hearing officer and parole officer.
• Linda Molina, San Antonio office — attorney; former Bexar County prosecutor.
• Ed Robertson, Austin office — former budget and policy adviser to the governor.

The roster follows the board’s own members page, cross-checked against the governor’s appointment announcements, which agree on every term date. All seven seats are filled and none is expired; the next three terms end February 1, 2027. The cities listed are board office assignments, not home addresses — several members’ published residences differ across announcements. Gov. Greg Abbott named Moberley presiding officer in September 2024, succeeding David G. Gutiérrez. Four of the seven are former board or prison system parole staff. The board’s older schedule page still shows a 2013 calendar and should not be used for meeting dates. Meeting contact: Estela De Hoyos, (512) 406-5480.