H.B. No. 567
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to criminal law masters in Jefferson County.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Article 2.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Art. 2.09. Who Are Magistrates. Each of the following
1-7 officers is a magistrate within the meaning of this Code: The
1-8 justices of the Supreme Court, the judges of the Court of Criminal
1-9 Appeals, the justices of the Courts of Appeals, the judges of the
1-10 District Court, the magistrates appointed by the judges of the
1-11 district courts of Bexar County, Dallas County, or Tarrant County
1-12 that give preference to criminal cases, the magistrates appointed
1-13 by the judges of the district courts of Lubbock County, <and> the
1-14 magistrates appointed by the judges of the criminal district courts
1-15 of Dallas County or Tarrant County, the masters appointed by the
1-16 judges of the district courts and the county courts at law that
1-17 give preference to criminal cases in Jefferson County, the county
1-18 judges, the judges of the county courts at law, judges of the
1-19 county criminal courts, the judges of statutory probate courts, the
1-20 justices of the peace, the mayors and recorders and the judges of
1-21 the municipal courts of incorporated cities or towns.
1-22 SECTION 2. Sections 54.202(a), (b), and (d), Government
1-23 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-24 (a) The judge of a court subject to this subchapter may
2-1 appoint one or more masters <a master> to perform the duties
2-2 authorized by this subchapter.
2-3 (b) To qualify for appointment as a master, a person must be
2-4 licensed to practice law in Texas. <A master must be:>
2-5 <(1) a magistrate, as that term is defined by Article
2-6 2.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1965, of the county; and>
2-7 <(2) licensed to practice law in this state.>
2-8 (d) A person appointed to serve as master is entitled to be
2-9 paid an amount set by the court that may not exceed the amount paid
2-10 for indigent trial representation pursuant to Article 26.05, Code
2-11 of Criminal Procedure. The commissioners court shall pay the
2-12 salary from funds appropriated by the commissioners court for
2-13 indigent criminal representation. <A magistrate who is appointed
2-14 to serve as a master is not entitled to receive additional
2-15 compensation for serving as a master.>
2-16 SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 54, Government Code, is
2-17 amended by adding Section 54.207 to read as follows:
2-18 Sec. 54.207. RESTRICTION ON PRACTICE OF LAW. A person
2-19 appointed as a master under this subchapter may not practice law
2-20 before the court for which the person served as master for two
2-21 years after the date the master's services end.
2-22 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-27 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-1 passage, and it is so enacted.