Will The State Of Texas Create A Chief Prosecutor That Would Prosecute Certain Cases Local DA’s Office Declines

Governor Abbott is urging the Texas Legislature to create a new statewide “Chief State Prosecutor” who could step in and prosecute certain criminal cases when local, elected district attorneys decline to file charges or reduce them.

What Abbott is proposing

• Abbott has called for legislation establishing a Chief State Prosecutor with authority to “take on cases that local district attorneys will not or do not prosecute.”

• The office would have statewide jurisdiction and function as a kind of statewide district attorney that can override or bypass local DA decisions in specified situations.

• Abbott frames the proposal as a response to “progressive DAs” whom he accuses of refusing to enforce certain laws and thereby contributing to repeat violent offending.

Why this is coming up now

• Texas law currently leaves general prosecutorial discretion to locally elected DAs, with the Attorney General usually needing an invitation from the local prosecutor to take over a case.​​

• In 2023, House Bill 17 created a mechanism to remove DAs who adopt policies of refusing to prosecute certain categories of offenses, sometimes called the “rogue DA” law.​

• Efforts to use that law—for example, against Travis County DA José Garza—have so far failed or been dismissed, contributing to pressure from Abbott and allies for a more direct state-level tool.​​

Key legal and constitutional questions

• Criminal-law experts note that Texas’s system is intentionally decentralized, with prosecution power rooted in locally elected DAs; concentrating power in a single statewide prosecutor would mark a major structural shift.

• Some attorneys and scholars warn that such a position could erode local discretion and might require a constitutional amendment, likely triggering significant litigation over separation of powers and home-rule issues.

• Critics also argue that Texas already has tools (like removal statutes and HB 17) to address alleged non-enforcement, and that the real debate is whether to enforce existing mechanisms versus creating a new central office.

Supporters’ and critics’ concerns

• Supporters say the new office is needed to ensure violent offenders are prosecuted uniformly across Texas when local DAs decline cases for ideological reasons.​

• Critics contend the proposal could undermine local democracy, politicize charging decisions at the state level, and invite conflicts between state and county officials over who controls prosecutions.