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That I, as chair of the Committee on Judiciary
and

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Civil Jurisprudence, held our first committee
of this session on

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March 1st, 2023, in which I extended a direct
invitation

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to Attorney General Ken Paxton to appear in
front of

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our committee.

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I can't say that I am aware of that.

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I may have heard it at the time.

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And I will say he should have been there.

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Are you aware as to whether or not Attorney
General

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Paxton accepted my invitation to appear in
front of our

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committee?

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My assumption from your question is that he
did not.

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He did not.

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Representative Smithy, are you aware that at
that committee I

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issued a standing invitation to Attorney
General Paxton to participate

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in any subsequent hearing of the committee on
judiciary and

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civil jurisprudence?

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I wasn't aware of that.

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Mr.

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Smithy, are you aware that our committee, the
committee on

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judiciary and civil jurisprudence, held a
dozen hearings, twelve hearings

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during the 88th legislative session in which
we took public

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and invited testimony?

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I was in a number of those, even though I

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wasn't on the committee.

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So we did a dozen, a dozen committee hearings
in

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which our committee, on which Chairman Murr
was a was

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a member of that standing committee, held a
dozen hearings

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during the 88th legislative session.

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And to your knowledge, Representative Smithy,
did the Attorney General

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ever participate in or appear in front of our
committee?

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Not to not to my recollection, Mr.

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Leach.

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That would be correct.

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He did not.

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Thank you, Representative Smithy.