A Travis County judge on Wednesday ruled against two voters trying to challenge a new $3 billion dementia research fund, which still can’t go into effect despite Texas voters overwhelmingly approving it last November.
It is unclear if the plaintiffs Shannon Huggins and Jose Silvester will appeal Wednesday’s ruling. If they do, it could keep the pricey initiative in legal limbo until the entire lawsuit is resolved by a higher court.
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After hearing arguments in the case for two hours on whether Huggins and Silvester were procedurally able to file such a legal challenge in the first place, state District Judge Jan Soifer agreed with the state that they do not.
The judge also denied the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary injunction to prevent the votes approving the fund from being certified by Gov. Greg Abbott. The new Dementia Prevention and Research Institute was one of 17 constitutional amendments voters passed on Nov. 4. The governor already stated last year he will not certify the election until the lawsuit is resolved.
The plaintiffs want a new election because they are claiming that voting machines used in 251 of the state’s 254 counties used to tabulate the results in the Nov. 4 election were not properly tested for accuracy, invalidating any ballots tabulated on them.
That’s untrue, according to the Secretary of State’s website, which tests and approves the machines used.
DPRIT was a legislative priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has called this lawsuit “frivolous.”
Challenges to constitutional amendments have become such a growing concern that this year the Texas Legislature passed a judicial bill that included a provision to prevent lawsuits from halting constitutional amendments like DPRIT’s Proposition 14, which 2 million Texas voters approved. But that law, House Bill 16, didn’t go into effect until December, too late to have blocked the plaintiffs’ lawsuit.
Stephanie Houser, the assistant attorney general defending Abbott’s office and Secretary of State Jane Nelson in the lawsuit had no comment about the judge’s decision in her favor on Wednesday.
Huggins, a non-lawyer who argued the case in court, would not say whether she and Silvester will file an appeal with the 15th Court of Appeals.
“Don’t know yet,” Huggins said.