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Senate Bill 271 |
Senate Author: Wentworth |
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Effective: 9-1-07 |
House Sponsor: Hughes |
Senate Bill 271 amends the Family Code to establish qualifications and change residency requirements for an associate judge appointed to hear Title IV-D and child protection cases. The bill requires a judge, to be eligible for appointment as a Title IV-D or child protection judge, to be a United States citizen, to have resided in the administrative judicial region or a county adjacent to the region of the court to which the person is appointed for the two years preceding the date of appointment, to be licensed to practice law in this state, and to be a practicing lawyer or a judge of a court in this state for the four years preceding the date of appointment. The bill also requires an associate judge during the term of appointment to continue to meet the residency requirement for appointment to serve on the court in the administrative judicial region and permits an associate judge appointed to serve in two or more administrative regions to reside anywhere in those regions.