Hours before Harris County Commissioners Court approved a county budget that slashed funding for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office by $6 million — a penalty for the office’s failure to submit an eligible budget proposal in May — Kim Ogg warned the governing body the cut would force her to disband her office’s homicide division.
“The budget will dramatically impact the operations of the district attorney’s office in a very negative way,” she said on Thursday.
Ogg has accused commissioners of endangering the homicide division before. She did so in a speech before a local conservative group earlier this month, and later saw her message echoed by Republican state Senator Paul Bettencourt, who called the choice to “defund” the division an “unbelievable priority mistake” on social media last week.
But did county commissioners really “defund” this small but important team of prosecutors on Thursday?
In short: no. County officials have not yet decided whether to renew the division’s grant-based funding. Moreover, county commissioners instructed the Harris County Office of Management and Budget on Thursday to ensure there would be no layoffs at the district attorney’s office despite the cut. The homicide division will continue to operate.
Here’s what you need to know about the division and why it became a hot-button issue during budget negotiations.
What is the homicide division?
The homicide division is a team of 14 prosecutors, 10 paralegals and assorted other staff who handle the most serious crimes in Harris County: capital murders and murders.
When District Attorney Kim Ogg created the division in 2022, she tasked the team with tackling a backlog of over 300 pending capital murder cases. That backlog, driven by court closures during Hurricane Harvey and the coronavirus pandemic, kept victims and defendants waiting years for justice and contributed to overcrowding in the Harris County Jail.
The lawyers in the homicide division are not the only prosecutors trying murder cases at the district attorney’s office. Assistant district attorneys who staff the county’s 26 felony courts also prosecute some cases. But the homicide division has turbocharged those efforts.
In 2023 alone, the division helped convict 271 defendants of murder or capital murder, according to data released by the district attorney’s office — a much higher number than in previous years.
“You’re safer, Harris County, because of these lawyers,” Ogg said in February.
How has it been funded so far?
Since its creation in 2022, eight of the 14 prosecutors who staff the homicide division have been funded entirely through a grant from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, a federal stimulus package intended to support local governments during their recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Commissioners Court allocated ARPA funds to the district attorney’s office for three fiscal years — 2022 through 2024 — with the expectation that they would be used to chip away at the county’s steep case backlog.
However, Ogg has drawn criticism for her decision to fund an important team with grant money. All eight ARPA-funded positions in the homicide division are held by “chiefs,” seasoned lawyers who oversee teams of more junior assistant district attorneys as they prosecute a range of felony cases, not just murders. These chiefs’ influence extends well beyond the homicide division — but they rely entirely on temporary funds.
“I had not heard of tenured staff being put on ARPA,” said Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia on Thursday. “I’m surprised at this.”
Vivian King, chief financial officer for the district attorney’s office, told the Landing that the office had no choice but to pay those prosecutors with ARPA funds.
“The grant was by definition for the backlog,” she said.
But Daniel Ramos, executive director of the Harris County Office of Management and Budget, said the district attorney had the option to fund more junior lawyers with ARPA and use those savings to guarantee positions for the homicide division chiefs.
“They have discretion on that,” he said.
Where does that funding stand now?
The ARPA grant supporting the homicide division is set to expire on Sep. 30. A special steering committee, staffed by a representative from the office of each county commissioner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, is currently deciding whether to renew the funds. The committee will issue a recommendation to Commissioners Court, the final decision-maker, before the next court meeting on Oct. 8, according to the Office of Court Administration.
This process, however, was not the preferred outcome for the district attorney’s office. When the office submitted its proposed budget to the county in May, it included a request that the county make 29 of its ARPA-funded positions permanent. That request, which included eight of the chiefs staffing the homicide division, eight of the division’s paralegals and two of its digital forensic analysts, would transfer the positions to the county’s general fund — the taxpayer dollars behind the majority of the budget approved Thursday.
But the district attorney’s office ignored a county directive to include options to reduce spending in its proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The oversight incurred an automatic budget cut of $6 million and rendered the office ineligible to receive new positions.
Those penalties left the district attorney’s office with no choice but to count on a renewal of the ARPA grant to sustain the homicide division — casting the team’s future in doubt.
What if the steering committee or Commissioners Court declines to renew funding?
Even if the steering committee or Commissioners Court declines to renew funding, the homicide division will remain in place. Ramos, the budget office director, promised commissioners Thursday he would work with the district attorney to ensure no layoffs would occur as a result of the office’s budget snafu.
However, even without that assurance, Ogg could support the homicide division with other sources of funding. For example, she could draw on funds already secured for the 37 vacant positions in her office, Ramos told Commissioners Court Thursday.
“It would be tight,” he said. “But we could make the transfer tomorrow to move those ARPA positions into the general fund.”
Both candidates vying to replace Ogg as district attorney, Democrat Sean Teare and Republican Dan Simons, vowed to maintain (or, if needed, replace) the division if elected in November.
So, did Commissioners Court really defund the homicide division?
No. By failing to submit an eligible budget proposal, the district attorney’s office disqualified itself from receiving new positions that could have supported the division. Moreover, even if the office does not receive a renewal of the ARPA funding that has supported these prosecutors since 2022, Commissioners Court ensured Thursday that the division would be safe from layoffs.
Update, Sept. 23, 4:35 p.m. : This story has been updated to reflect a comment from Dan Simons, the Republican candidate for Harris County District Attorney.
