1-1 By: Stiles (Senate Sponsor - Parker) H.B. No. 567
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House March 1, 1993;
1-3 March 2, 1993, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Criminal Justice; May 18, 1993, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0;
1-6 May 18, 1993, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE VOTE
1-8 Yea Nay PNV Absent
1-9 Whitmire x
1-10 Brown x
1-11 Nelson x
1-12 Sibley x
1-13 Sims x
1-14 Turner x
1-15 West x
1-16 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 567 By: West
1-17 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-18 AN ACT
1-19 relating to criminal law masters in Jefferson County.
1-20 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-21 SECTION 1. Article 2.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-22 amended to read as follows:
1-23 Art. 2.09. Who Are Magistrates. Each of the following
1-24 officers is a magistrate within the meaning of this Code: The
1-25 justices of the Supreme Court, the judges of the Court of Criminal
1-26 Appeals, the justices of the Courts of Appeals, the judges of the
1-27 District Court, the magistrates appointed by the judges of the
1-28 district courts of Bexar County, Dallas County, or Tarrant County
1-29 that give preference to criminal cases, the magistrates appointed
1-30 by the judges of the district courts of Lubbock County, <and> the
1-31 magistrates appointed by the judges of the criminal district courts
1-32 of Dallas County or Tarrant County, the masters appointed by the
1-33 judges of the district courts and the county courts at law that
1-34 give preference to criminal cases in Jefferson County, the county
1-35 judges, the judges of the county courts at law, judges of the
1-36 county criminal courts, the judges of statutory probate courts, the
1-37 justices of the peace, the mayors and recorders and the judges of
1-38 the municipal courts of incorporated cities or towns.
1-39 SECTION 2. Sections 54.202(a), (b), and (d), Government
1-40 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-41 (a) The judge of a court subject to this subchapter may
1-42 appoint one or more masters <a master> to perform the duties
1-43 authorized by this subchapter.
1-44 (b) To qualify for appointment as a master, a person must be
1-45 licensed to practice law in Texas. <A master must be:>
1-46 <(1) a magistrate, as that term is defined by Article
1-47 2.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1965, of the county; and>
1-48 <(2) licensed to practice law in this state.>
1-49 (d) A person appointed to serve as master is entitled to be
1-50 paid an amount set by the court that may not exceed the amount paid
1-51 for indigent trial representation pursuant to Article 26.05, Code
1-52 of Criminal Procedure. The commissioners court shall pay the
1-53 salary from funds appropriated by the commissioners court for
1-54 indigent criminal representation. <A magistrate who is appointed
1-55 to serve as a master is not entitled to receive additional
1-56 compensation for serving as a master.>
1-57 SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 54, Government Code, is
1-58 amended by adding Section 54.207 to read as follows:
1-59 Sec. 54.207. RESTRICTION ON PRACTICE OF LAW. A person
1-60 appointed as a master under this subchapter may not practice law
1-61 before the court for which the person served as master for two
1-62 years after the date the master's services end.
1-63 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-64 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-65 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-66 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-67 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-68 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-1 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-2 * * * * *
2-3 Austin,
2-4 Texas
2-5 May 18, 1993
2-6 Hon. Bob Bullock
2-7 President of the Senate
2-8 Sir:
2-9 We, your Committee on Criminal Justice to which was referred H.B.
2-10 No. 567, have had the same under consideration, and I am instructed
2-11 to report it back to the Senate with the recommendation that it do
2-12 not pass, but that the Committee Substitute adopted in lieu thereof
2-13 do pass and be printed.
2-14 Whitmire,
2-15 Chairman
2-16 * * * * *
2-17 WITNESSES
2-18 No witnesses appeared on H.B. No. 567.