The House Criminal Jurisprudence committee, chaired by Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo), will hear invited and public testimony on two interim charges — building a criminal-justice workforce for rural Texas and tightening the state’s response to fraud aimed at older and vulnerable residents.
When: 10:00 AM, Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Where: Room E2.014, Capitol Extension, Austin
Chair: Rep. John T. Smithee, R–Amarillo (HD-86)
Vice Chair: Rep. Gene Wu, D–Houston (HD-137)
Format: Invited and public testimony; the committee will not vote on legislation
Live video: house.texas.gov/video-audio
Submit comments online: comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c220
The Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence will gavel in at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 19th to take up two interim charges: how to staff prosecutor and public-defender offices in the state’s rural counties, and how Texas should sharpen its response to fraud and financial exploitation targeting elderly and vulnerable residents. The committee will hear both invited and public testimony.
Chaired by Rep. John T. Smithee (R-Amarillo), the 11-member panel is working through a six-part interim charge list issued ahead of the 90th Legislature, which convenes in January 2027. Tuesday’s hearing takes up two of those charges; the committee’s broader interim docket also covers violent-crime clearance rates, juvenile sentencing, monitoring of 89th Legislature bills, and agency oversight.
Smithee, one of the House’s longest-serving members, leads a committee with a 6-5 Republican majority and jurisdiction over the Penal Code, criminal procedure, probation and parole, and the state’s juvenile-justice agencies.
The first charge, Rural Criminal Justice Workforce Development, directs the committee to study whether partnerships with Texas-based law schools could strengthen the pipeline of prosecutors and defense attorneys serving rural and underserved areas. Members are asked to weigh training pathways, law-school clinical opportunities, and incentive-based programs.
The charge follows years of warnings about “legal deserts” in rural Texas: a 2024 report to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission from Texas A&M’s Public Policy Research Institute documented counties with few or no practicing criminal-defense attorneys, and academic studies have tracked a parallel thinning of rural prosecutor ranks.
The second charge, Fraud and Financial Exploitation of Elderly and Vulnerable Texans, asks the panel to examine trends in fraud, financial exploitation, and abuse aimed at older Texans — including schemes that rely on telecommunications and emerging technologies. The committee is directed to review the effectiveness of current criminal statutes, penalties, restitution tools, and coordination among law-enforcement and regulatory agencies, and to identify gaps in detection, investigation, prosecution, and victim recovery.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center has reported steep year-over-year increases in losses among complainants age 60 and older, and Texas Adult Protective Services, housed in the Department of Family and Protective Services, classifies financial exploitation among the most common forms of elder abuse it investigates.
Interim hearings will produce findings and report language rather than bills, and any statutory changes would not be filed until the 90th Legislature convenes next year.
Committee members
- Rep. John T. Smithee, R–Amarillo (HD-86) — Chair
- Rep. Gene Wu, D–Houston (HD-137) — Vice Chair
- Rep. Rhetta Andrews Bowers, D–Rowlett (HD-113)
- Rep. David Cook, R–Mansfield (HD-96)
- Rep. Jolanda Jones, D–Houston (HD-147)
- Rep. Mitch Little, R–Denton (HD-65)
- Rep. AJ Louderback, R–Victoria (HD-30)
- Rep. Brent A. Money, R–Greenville (HD-2)
- Rep. Joe Moody, D–El Paso (HD-78)
- Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos, D–Richardson (HD-102)
- Rep. Wes Virdell, R–Brady (HD-53)