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Senate Bill 1139 |
Senate Author: Huffman et al. |
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Effective: See below |
House Sponsor: Smithee et al. |
Senate Bill 1139 amends provisions of the Family Code, Government Code, Human Resources Code, and Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the operation, administration, and practice of courts in the judicial branch and the composition of certain juvenile boards. The bill revises certain procedures relating to associate judges for child support and child protection cases; increases the electronic filing fee required for certain civil actions and proceedings; establishes provisions regarding bailiffs for county courts at law and family district courts in Tarrant County; revises provisions relating to the El Paso Criminal Law Magistrate Court, criminal law hearing officers in Cameron County, and the juvenile board of Atascosa County; and revises provisions relating to temporary justices in certain justice precincts, telephone interpreter services in criminal proceedings, and the courts authorized to hear matters related to a capias pro fine.
Senate Bill 1139 revises the terms of the 52nd District Court in Coryell County and creates the 446th Judicial District in Ector County, the 469th and 470th Judicial Districts in Collin County, and the 505th Judicial District in Fort Bend County. Effective January 1, 2016, the bill creates the 507th Judicial District in Harris County. Effective January 1, 2017, the bill creates the 451st Judicial District in Kendall County and the 440th Judicial District in Coryell County and abolishes the office of county attorney and the County Court at Law of Kendall County.
Effective on specified dates, the bill creates the County Court at Law Nos. 4 and 5 of Cameron County, the County Court at Law No. 7 of Collin County, the County Court at Law No. 5 of Fort Bend County, and the County Criminal Court at Law No. 16 of Harris County. Among other provisions, the bill provides for the designation of the administrative county for certain multicounty statutory courts, including the 1st Multicounty Court at Law. The bill modifies the jurisdiction of the Jefferson County Court, sets out provisions relating to the county attorneys of Aransas and Guadalupe Counties and the criminal district attorney of Kendall County, and abolishes the office of district attorney for the 25th Judicial District. These provisions take effect on specified dates. Except as otherwise provided, the bill takes effect September 1, 2015.