Texas lawmakers are considering several bills related to criminal justice reforms, and many on both sides of the political aisle are embracing the proposed reforms that include limiting arrests for misdemeanors, police reforms and even prison closures.

The Texas Legislature will examine HB 830, which would limit arrests for Class C misdemeanors, and HB 88, which focuses on comprehensive police reform and prison closures, according to the Texas legislative docket. 

James White, Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee, said during a recent podcast about arrests for Class C misdemeanors that Texas “doesn’t need to do fortuitous arrests. We don't need to be putting people in the county jail or the municipal jail on tax dollars in an inefficient way ... We don't need to be doing that. We don't need to be doing end runs around the Fourth Amendment," reported Forest County News.

Arresting someone on a fine-only crime, and seeing tens of thousands of Texans being jailed for minor infractions that are only supposed to result in fines is a complex problem, according to one criminal justice expert.

“The problem is, of course, we are charging somebody with a crime and facilitating an arrest, a booking and whatnot for an actual offense that even if the person is found fully guilty, there would be no jail time," Derek Cohen, policy director of Texas Public Policy Foundation's Right on Crime told Austin News. "The punishment has already outweighed what the status of the crime is.”

Even Matt Whitaker, a former acting U.S. Attorney General under former President Donald Trump, said that arresting people for Class C misdemeanors should be rare. 

“Arresting people for Class C misdemeanors should be used only on very rare occasions," Whitaker told Lone Star Standard. "We need our police, whose job is becoming harder and harder, to be focused on the most serious crimes. There are opportunity costs to time being spent arresting people for traffic violations. As a prosecutor I would prefer that time is spent getting the real bad guys.” 

Whitaker added “If the state has excess capacity and expects to have further reductions in the prison population in the future, great. That is saving for taxpayers while keeping the tools needed for law enforcement to do its job.”

Reforms to Texas' criminal justice system are also supported by Jeff Leach, Republican chairman for House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee. He told the Lone Star Standard, "We're trying to bring folks around the table, including a lot of really great brave law enforcement, who can and should be respected and who are working with us to weed out the bad so that we can focus on the good." 

“When we talk about criminal justice reform, we're not only talking about crime and justice,” Leach added. “We're talking about life, liberty and freedom. A lot of what we’re seeing nationwide, which was sparked in Texas over the years, is this being one of the really cool, fresh areas where there seems to be bipartisan agreement. We disagree on a lot but both sides can, in many cases, agree on second chances for folks and on a criminal justice system that is transparent and fair and a situation where we could be hard and smart on crime but also respect life and liberty.”

A former prisoner pardoned by Trump has also said it is the duty of lawmakers to address wrongs in the system.

Alice Marie Johnson, a former prisoner whose story became famous when Trump commuted her sentence and gave her a full pardon said, "I read the story about that young man being arrested and his father getting pepper sprayed in Keller, Texas. The young man had been pulled over for a traffic violation. Last summer George Floyd was killed by police officers. These are instances when the system is telling you something is wrong. It is the duty of our elected officials to address those wrongs to make sure they don't happen again."

Texas police department data shows that in 2019, more than 64,000 Texas were arrested for minor traffic violations at traffic stops. Analysts indicate many of these arrests are unnecessary and a waste of criminal justice resources and police time. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 41,000 Texas residents were arrested for Class C misdemeanors.

Most Texans believe people should not be arrested for fine-only offenses. A recent University of Houston poll found 74% of Texans agree people should not be arrested for these offenses.

The poll also found broad support among residents for various other police reforms. They include 72% who support the George Floyd Act, 91% who support officers being required to intervene if they observe another using excessive use of force, 72% who back limits on immunity for police officers, and 84% who support a ban on use of lethal force if another method is available, the Lone Star Standard reported.

Texas’ lethal force statute could be considered broad in its definition as the law currently allows for lethal force against someone who is “suspected” of a violent felony even if that person poses no immediate threat.

Texas law also does not currently require an officer to intervene to save a life when another officer could be going to far when another is using excessive use of force, a recent attorney general opinion found.

There is also a push for reforming qualified immunity, which allows government officials a certain protection from civil lawsuits even though they may have violated a citizen's rights.

Arif Panju, an attorney for the Institute of Justice, told the Lone Star Standard that the organization's support of reform to qualified immunity is simple, “if people must follow the law, then the government must follow the Constitution.”

Charles Blain, a conservative commentator in Houston and leader of the Urban Reform Institute, sees the qualified immunity doctrine, which was issued by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, as vague, misreported and inaccurate. 

“Qualified immunity allows officers to know that they are protected as long as the action takes place while trying to stop a crime or threat but holding officers accountable for their actions would go a long way in combating excessive force as would stricter training and physical fitness requirements,” Blain told the Houston Republic. 

Blain said excessive force by police officers is often used to stop a threat. 

“It can be hard to properly assess that threat in the heat of the moment,” he said. “In other instances you have officers who aren't always properly trained who are policing areas that they themselves are afraid of being in, and that heightened fear can lead to a disproportionate reaction.”

Currently Texas’ prison population is at an all-time low. The decline resulted from the state's legislative decision more than a decade ago to reform the criminal justice system, North Austin News reported. Despite the low prison population, some of the 100 prisons owned by the state have a shortage of prison guards. That staffing level shortage in prisons such as Coffield, Telford, Connally, Clements, Dalhart, Daniel and Smith have reportedly caused discipline problems.