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Senate Bill 42 |
Senate Author: Zaffirini et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-17 |
House Sponsor: Smithee |
Senate Bill 42, the Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act of 2017, amends the Code of Criminal Procedure, Election Code, Government Code, Occupations Code, Property Code, Tax Code, and Transportation Code to set out and revise provisions regarding the security of courts and judges in the state. The bill, among other provisions, provides for the creation, composition, and administration of local court security committees; requires specialized training for court security officers and provides for the required certification of such officers; provides for the imposition of an additional filing fee in certain civil cases for judicial and court personnel training; and requires the legislature to appropriate funds from the judicial and court personnel training fund to the court of criminal appeals to provide for court security training programs. The bill provides for the redaction and omission of information relating to certain judges and their spouses from certain publicly available documents. The bill requires the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System to establish a judicial security division and sets out provisions requiring development of a notification procedure for judicial privacy by the division's director of security and emergency preparedness.