73R4647 JSA-D
          By Yarbrough                                          H.B. No. 1138
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the term of office of a municipal judge.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 29.005, Government Code, is amended to
    1-5  read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 29.005.  Term of Office.  (a)  The judge of a municipal
    1-7  court serves for a term of office of two years unless the
    1-8  municipality provides for a longer term pursuant to Article XI,
    1-9  Section 11, of the Texas Constitution.
   1-10        (b)  In a municipality that provides by charter or ordinance
   1-11  that a municipal judge serves at the pleasure of the mayor, the
   1-12  governing body, or both, and that does not specify by charter or
   1-13  ordinance the date on which the term of office of a municipal judge
   1-14  begins, a term of office begins on the date that the term of office
   1-15  of the mayor begins.  If the term of office of a municipal judge is
   1-16  shorter than the term of office of the mayor, a new term of the
   1-17  office of municipal judge begins on the date the term beginning on
   1-18  the same date as the mayor's term expires.  That new term expires
   1-19  on the date the next mayor's term begins.
   1-20        SECTION 2.  Section 30.486, Government Code, is amended by
   1-21  amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (i) to read as
   1-22  follows:
   1-23        (b)  The governing body of the city shall provide by charter
   1-24  or by ordinance for the term of office of its municipal judges.
    2-1  The term must be for a definite term of not less than two nor more
    2-2  than four years, the duration of which within these limits shall be
    2-3  determined by charter, ordinance, or the method prescribed by
    2-4  Article XI, Section 11, of the Texas Constitution.  If the city
    2-5  does not specify the duration of the term, the term is a two-year
    2-6  term unless a shorter term is required by Subsection (i).  A
    2-7  municipal judge may continue in office after the end of the judge's
    2-8  term for not more than 90 days or until his successor is selected
    2-9  and qualified, whichever occurs first.
   2-10        (i)  In a city that provides by charter or ordinance that a
   2-11  municipal judge serves at the pleasure of the mayor, the governing
   2-12  body, or both, and that does not specify by charter or ordinance
   2-13  the date on which the term of office of a municipal judge begins,
   2-14  the term of office begins on the date that the term of office of
   2-15  the mayor begins.  If the term of office of a municipal judge is
   2-16  shorter than the term of office of the mayor, a new term of the
   2-17  office of municipal judge begins on the date the term beginning on
   2-18  the same date as the mayor's term expires.  That new term expires
   2-19  on the date the next mayor's term begins.
   2-20        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-21  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-22  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-23  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-24  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-25  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-26  passage, and it is so enacted.