Jim Johnson

"This is the personal page of Jim Johnson. The views expressed are strictly my own."

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

@creation247 I agree with the teachings of Jesus

[Texas Men's Tennis @TexasMTN]

Your 2026 ITA Indoors National Champions!!! 🏆

#HookEm 🤘🎾 | @ITA_Tennis

[Jim Johnson @JudgeJimJohnson]

@MayMayspeaks 5th child’s name is “What” 😝

[Jim Johnson @JudgeJimJohnson]

What an exciting World Series! Out by a millimeter. Congrats Dodgers. ⚾️ 🏆

[UT Austin @UTAustin]

Happy game day, Longhorn Nation 🤘

We've got the perfect song to play on repeat as you're getting ready to watch @TexasFootball take on Ohio State 🎻 🧡

Texas Fight!

🎥: Arturo Ignacio González (the.most.perfect.pitch // Instagram)

[Derrek Cooper @DerrekCooper80]

🤘🏾

[Jim Johnson @JudgeJimJohnson]

@NCAABaseball @CoastalBaseball @LSUbaseball Ugh: wanted to watch two good teams play ball. Turned off following the first inning flop. After that, who could trust anything? Congrats on a fantastic season leading up to today, and all the best for next year.

[Senator Brent Hagenbuch @HagenbuchTX]

🚨NEWS FLASH: Hagenbuch ranked as one of the most conservative Texas Senators! #txlege

[Jim Johnson @JudgeJimJohnson]

@Texasfurever Same! I was at the game. Ugh.

[Dan Patrick @DanPatrick]

I was in Washington, D.C., today for the first-ever meeting of the Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty. It’s an honor to be asked by President Trump to serve as Chairman of this historic commission. Together, we will carry out the president’s important mission to preserve and strengthen religious liberty in our country.

In case you missed it, here are a few brief clips: https://t.co/JS3wj6CzHD

[Directors’ Cup Updates @Direct_Cupdates]

For the 4th time in the last 5 years, the @TexasLonghorns and AD @_delconte have won the NACDA Directors' Cup for being the nations top overall athletic department.

Congratulations to all the athletes, coaches and staff for winning this prestigious award!

Photo: @kyleumlang

[Brad Kellner - Texas Sports @BradKellner_]

Year 1 in the SEC was a huge success for the Longhorns. 🤘

Softball - National Champs
M Swimming and Diving - Nat. Champs
W Swimming and Diving - SEC Champs
W Hoops - SEC Champs
Baseball - SEC Champs
Men’s Tennis - SEC Champs
Football - College Football Playoff
M Golf - NCAA Quarterfinals
W Golf - NCAA Quarterfinals
W Rowing - SEC Champs
W Soccer - SEC Tournament Champs

[Nike Diamond @nikediamond]

If you’re going to play in Texas, win.

@TexasSoftball are National Champions.

[Jim Johnson @JudgeJimJohnson]

@TweetTonyMac @LoewyLawFirm It’s tempting to succumb to a splitting philosophy, especially 1st year on bench. (Pretty sure in the 431st I’ve overcome that temptation since!) Another thing I’ve learned is that our local jurors have no trouble making hard (and correct) decisions, and I’m encouraged by that.

[Jim Johnson @JudgeJimJohnson]

@Direct_Cupdates Is Texas “projected” total already based on them winning the softball championship? Or could that win add points?

[Adam Loewy @LoewyLawFirm]

True believer criminal defense lawyers largely dislike Judges bc they think they are part of an oppressive system

You will not find many civil lawyers on either side of the docket who are opposed to judicial pay raises bc we view Judges favorably.

#txlege

[Justice Brett Busby @BrettBusby]

@TweetTonyMac Thanks, Tony. Hope we can get them to find common ground. https://t.co/jt6uP8yYOY

[Tony McDonald @TweetTonyMac]

For those of you who need a crash course in #txlege legislator pensions, here it goes:

Reps and Senators talk a lot about their $7,200 per year salary. That's a little misleading, since they get a significant per diem of $221 per day of the session or when they're in Austin. So the real pay is about $19,000 per year. But that of course is not commiserate with the time legislators put in, and it is right to say that service in the legislature is appropriately seen as a financial sacrifice.

But despite that initial financial sacrifice, there is a hidden payoff to those who serve an extended period in the "elected class." Like other state employees and elected officials, state reps and state senators who serve long enough eventually earn an annual pension that they begin receiving after retirement, and at a trigger age of 50 or 60, depending on years of service.

However, unlike every other official, where the pension is based off of their real salary, the legislative pension is not based off of the $7,200 per year legislators actually receive. It is instead indexed to the current prevailing pay to a full time district judge - currently $140,000 per year.

Legislators who serve eight years in office vest in the legislative pension system, and starting at age 60, begin earning 2.3% x [Years of Service] x [a District Judge's Salary (currently $140k)]. Currently that would be $25,760 per year, from age 60 to death.

For younger legislators who serve more than 12 years, they begin receiving pension payments at age 50. So they receive $38,640 every year starting at age 50.

If they serve even more, the amount keeps going up - 2.3% of a district judge's salary for every year served, up to a 100% of a judge's salary. This cap was added with Rep. Tom Craddick in mind, who otherwise could leave the legislature today and earn 1.3x a judge's salary for the rest of his years.

To pick a somewhat extreme, but very plausible scenario: A legislator who served 20 years in the legislature starting at age 30, retiring at 50, and living to age 90, could be expected to earn a total pension of $2,576,000 at current rates. That's 18x what they earned in direct salary over 20 years of service.

Financial planners will tell you that this annual annuity, even for those who serve just the minimum eight years, is the equivalent to having millions of dollars in the bank, and living off of the interest. It's better than any retirement plan that exists outside of politics.

And it creates a perverse incentive. I often joke when legislators retire from office, that they often do so at the eight or 12 year mark. Of course they do. There's a huge payday for their families to stick around that long.

Of course, that extended tenure means they typically have to survive a redistricting cycle. That creates a powerful incentive by leadership to keep members in line. They need to make it to the eight year mark for all of their service to be financially meaningful. Otherwise they've sacrificed six years for about $114k in total compensation (salary and per diem).

In a system that was designed to encourage better public service, we would scrap the pension system altogether, and perhaps consider paying legislators some appropriate salary for their time. Maybe they could get a 3% match on their 401k like regular Texans.

But as things stand, this pension system remains shrouded in secrecy, with pensions linked to the salary for district judges. This means that every time legislators pass a bill to increase judicial salaries, they are also padding their own pensions at the same time.

The #txlege House, including @leachfortexas and @Burrows4TX actually get credit for once for trying to avoid this conflict of interest this session on SB 293. They wanted to give a salary increase to judges in the bill, and in order to ensure they did not indirectly pad their own legislative pensions, included an amendment in the bill decoupling legislative pensions from judicial pay.

It is extremely disappointing that the Senate and @LtGovTX @DanPatrick have spiked the amendment on a point of order, and are trying to pressure the House to agree to the pension bump in order to pass an important judicial pay/administration bill.

It is even more disappointing to see this done through the use of a point of order, which are rarely raised in the Senate. The ruling from Lt. Gov. Patrick was wrong, as a matter of parliamentary law.

But the ruling doesn't just rest with him. The senators had the authority to appeal Lt. Gov. Patrick's ruling, and overturn it. So in acquiescing to the ruling, they are directly responsible for this outcome as well.

It is long past time that legislative pensions and judicial salaries be de-coupled. It is a matter of transparency and ethics. We were right at the finish line, and this reform is sadly being taken off track this evening.

[Supreme Court of TX @SupremeCourt_TX]

Chief Justice Jimmy Blacklock delivers the State of the Judiciary Address to a joint session of the Legislature.
Watch live: https://t.co/SQvUNOWeJK

[Tony McDonald @TweetTonyMac]

The amendment was germane. And you could move tomorrow to overrule Lt Gov Patrick’s ruling on that point.

Germaneness is determined by the purpose of the amendment as it relates to the purpose of the bill. This has been described in past rulings as approaching the “theological.”

Here, you don’t need a theology degree to understand that an amendment that avoids the conflict of interest (RE: legislative pensions) created by a judicial salary increase is relevant to a bill about judicial salary increases. The amendment is clearly incidental to the primary purpose of the bill.

The point of order is nonsense. And it is even more ridiculous given the Senate’s generally laxed attitude on this front.