Waving the Billy Club

By a long shot (no pun intended), not only Republicans get caught up in the urge to grandstand on "law and order." Laredo Democrat Judith Zaffirini's SB 44 would dramatically expand police powers by legalizing random sobriety checkpoints on Texas' roadways. (Rep. Todd Smith, R-Bedford, filed the companion HB 226.) Ostensibly the bill creates a host of parameters designed to ensure the stops aren't "biased" -- that is, everybody gets stopped -- but this compounds the problem. A sobriety checkpoint should target only one group: drunk drivers.

"These are surprise roadblocks; that's what they are," says TCDLA's Hampton. "This permits police to stop people who are doing nothing wrong, without any reasonable suspicion. And while the cops are at the roadblocks stopping innocent citizens, the drunks are driving the other way." While the legislation takes pains to try and control the circumstances under which the roadblocks can be conducted, it cannot guarantee that they won't be abused, nor does it offer any remedies if they are. "Roadblocks are very popular in totalitarian countries," says Hampton, "but not here, because we only allow our police to go after bad guys." Welcome to the new "Here."

Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, has filed HB 210, which would limit the right to impose a probated sentence for a defendant convicted of murder. Even prosecutors will occasionally inform prospective jurors of their right to sentence a murder defendant to probation -- for example, in the case of an elderly couple in which one spouse assists the other in a suicide because of terminal illness. Hochberg's legislation would substitute absolutist simplicity for particular and complex judicial situations -- should it pass, grandma and grandpa are headed to jail, too.

Consider these just the appetizers for what promises to be an often unsavory but occasionally spicy session. The main course begins Jan. 14, and runs through June 2. Dessert (aka Special Sessions) costs extra.