Requirements to Run for Texas Sheriff

Robert West | July 31, 2023

What if I told you the Texas House and Senate not only wrote but passed a requirement to run for Sheriff that cannot, under any circumstances, be met?

Click the link below to quickly read the text of SB1124.

Bill Text: TX SB1124 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled | LegiScan

Notice that the assembly of fools requires a candidate for sheriff in Texas to have an “active permanent peace officer license.” There is no such license. By definition, a “permanent” license could not be revoked.

Who would require a license that does not exist in order to run for sheriff in Texas?

That would be State Senator Phil King of District 10. Fitting that the king of fools would be named King, right?

The Texas Sheriff’s Association has told their members to ignore the law until it is corrected and refer to the requirement of the fictitious license as a “typo.”

A Deeper Flaw and List of Fools

The law, however, has a deeper flaw. Imagine you ran for and won Sheriff four years ago with no experience in law enforcement. The law now requires you to have five years of law enforcement or 10 years of military experience in order to be a candidate. Strictly speaking, you could not run for re-election.

As much as I don’t like to ignore laws, following this one would mean we could not run anyone for sheriff in Texas this year. In January we would have no sheriffs and could not appoint replacements until this law was corrected.

Here is the list of fools that voted for it in the Senate and in the House. If your representative is on it as voting “yes” bless their hearts.

The House: Roll Call: TX SB1124 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | LegiScan

The Senate: Wednesday, April 19, 2023-37th Day (Cont.) (texas.gov)

This law was meant to correct a rare situation where an elected sheriff fails to gain the proper certifications to enforce the law, but the fix is to completely outlaw millions of Texans from running for the sheriff's position. 

The people barred are not only average citizens but former sheriffs and police that no longer have an active license.

In the meantime, Texans are being barred from being on the ballot based not on what the law says, but what it was meant to say.  If this shows you anything, it shows you do not have to be all that bright to be in state politics.

Robert West