36 GOP Reps and 17 Democrats Who Voted
to Impeach AG Back Belated Pay Offering
Capitol Inside
May 7, 2025
Texas House Republicans offered some atonement for a crisis they'd created when they rallied quietly on Wednesday behind a provision that's designed to reimburse Attorney General Ken Paxton for a month of pay that he was not allowed to collect after his impeachment in the west wing two years ago.
The House voted 101-38 without a whisper of debate to earmark $63,750 from general revenue to compensate Paxton for "salary he did not receive during the period of impeachment" that began when 60 Republicans and 61 Democrats approved a litany of corruption charges at the close of the regular session in 2023.
Paxton used the ordeal as a springboard for a campaign that he's waging for the federal post that Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn is seeking again in 2026.
The Paxton outlay was added to a measure that would reserve $9.4 million for outstanding judgments and claims against the state. State Rep. Jeff Leach - an Allen Republican who served on the board of managers responsible for Paxton's prosecution - proposed the amendment with the retroactive compensation payment to House Bill 4486 without objection from its sponsor, State Rep. Greg Bonnen of Friendswood.
The silence was deafening when the legislation with the Paxton belated pay revision cleared the House on a vote of 109-24. All of the opposition to the Leach amendment and the Bonnen bill came from Democrats.
The vote for the amendment came more than two years after House leaders refused to authorize an appropriation to fund a judgment that several former Paxton aides had won in a civil court after reporting him to the FBI with bribery allegations. The House General Investigating Committee conducted a secret probe before approving charges several days before the first impeachment vote involving a statewide official here in more than a century.
Paxton was suspended pending the outcome of a Senate trial in a move that prompted Governor Greg Abbott to appoint a temporary replacement for the state AG. The Senate acquitted Paxton on all of the charges that the House submitted in September 2023.
A handful of former Paxton impeachment managers - GOP State Reps. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park, Charlie Geren of Fort Worth and David Spiller of Jacksboro along with Democratic State Rep. Terry Canales of Edinburg - voted for the Leach amendment.
Former Republican Speaker Dade Phelan, who was perceived as the Paxton impeachment engineer while leading the House two years ago, backed the provision that authorizes the payment for missed wages.
Three dozen House Republicans who supported the AG's impeachment voted to reimburse him for lost pay with the amendment to the judgment funding measure. Twenty Democrats endorsed the Leach amendment including 17 who voted for impeachment in 2023.
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