By: Shapiro S.B. No. 1361
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to court administration and jurisdiction in Kaufman County
1-2 and to the creation of the County Court at Law in Kaufman County.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Government Code, is
1-5 amended by adding Sections 25.1311 and 25.1312 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 25.1311. KAUFMAN COUNTY. Kaufman County has one
1-7 statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Kaufman County.
1-8 Sec. 25.1312. KAUFMAN COUNTY COURT AT LAW PROVISIONS.
1-9 (a) In addition to the jurisdiction provided by Section 25.0003
1-10 and other law, a county court at law in Kaufman County has:
1-11 (1) except as limited by Subsection (b), concurrent
1-12 with the district court, the jurisdiction provided by the
1-13 constitution and by general law for district courts; and
1-14 (2) concurrent with the county court, the probate
1-15 jurisdiction provided by general law for county courts and
1-16 concurrent jurisdiction with the district court in the same manner
1-17 provided by general law for statutory probate courts, regardless of
1-18 the amount in controversy.
1-19 (b) A county court at law does not have general supervisory
1-20 control or appellate review of the commissioners court or
1-21 jurisdiction of:
1-22 (1) felony cases involving capital murder;
1-23 (2) suits on behalf of the state to recover penalties
2-1 or escheated property;
2-2 (3) misdemeanors involving official misconduct; or
2-3 (4) contested elections.
2-4 (c) The judge of a county court at law shall be paid an
2-5 annual salary that is not less than $1,000 less than the total
2-6 annual salary and supplement received from the state and county by
2-7 a district judge in Kaufman County.
2-8 (d) The district clerk serves as clerk of a county court at
2-9 law except that the county clerk shall serve in matters of mental
2-10 health, probate, juvenile, and criminal misdemeanor dockets and all
2-11 other civil matters in which the court does not have concurrent
2-12 jurisdiction with the district court.
2-13 (e) On request of a county court at law judge, jurors
2-14 regularly impaneled for a week by the district courts may be made
2-15 available and shall serve for the week or until released in the
2-16 county court at law.
2-17 (f) A county court at law of Kaufman County may also summon
2-18 jurors through the county clerk for service in the court in the
2-19 manner provided by the laws governing the drawing, selection, and
2-20 service for county courts. Jurors so summoned shall be paid in the
2-21 same manner and at the same rate as those for district courts in
2-22 Kaufman County. By order of the judge of the court in which they
2-23 are summoned, jurors may be transferred to the district court for
2-24 service in noncapital felony cases.
2-25 (g) Notwithstanding Section 74.091, there shall only be one
3-1 local administrative judge over all district courts and county
3-2 courts at law in Kaufman County. The local administrative judge
3-3 shall be a district judge pursuant to Section 74.091.
3-4 (h) The district clerk administering cases for a county
3-5 court at law shall charge civil fees and court costs as if the
3-6 cases had been filed in the office of the district clerk. In cases
3-7 of concurrent jurisdiction, the cases shall be assigned to either
3-8 the district court or county court at law in accordance with local
3-9 administrative rules established by the local administrative judge,
3-10 Section 74.093 notwithstanding.
3-11 (i) The judge of a county court at law shall appoint an
3-12 official court reporter for the court and shall set the official
3-13 court reporter's annual salary, subject to ratification and
3-14 approval by the commissioners court, in the same manner as the
3-15 district judge sets the annual salary of the court's official court
3-16 reporter. The official court reporter of the county court at law
3-17 shall be subject to an oath or affirmation as an officer of the
3-18 court, shall hold office at the pleasure of the judge of the court,
3-19 and shall be provided at no costs to the reporter a private office
3-20 in close proximity to the court's courtroom. The official reporter
3-21 shall be entitled to all rights and benefits afforded all other
3-22 employees of Kaufman County.
3-23 (j) The judge of a county court at law shall also hire, with
3-24 the approval of the commissioners court through the county budget
3-25 process, a staff consisting of a court coordinator and a bailiff.
4-1 Court personnel employed under this subsection are entitled to
4-2 receive a salary set by the commissioners court and be paid in the
4-3 same manner that other county employees are paid. They are also
4-4 entitled to receive the same employment benefits in addition to
4-5 salary that other county employees receive.
4-6 (k) The bailiff must be a certified peace officer at the
4-7 time of appointment or within one year of appointment or be
4-8 removed, be deputized by the sheriff of Kaufman County, and be
4-9 subject to the training and continuing education requirements of a
4-10 deputy of that sheriff.
4-11 (l) The judge of a county court at law must be a United
4-12 States citizen at the time of appointment or election.
4-13 (m) The judge of a county court at law shall diligently
4-14 discharge the duties of the office on a full-time basis and may not
4-15 engage in the private practice of law.
4-16 (n) In matters of concurrent jurisdiction, the judge of a
4-17 county court at law and the district judge may exchange benches,
4-18 transfer cases subject to acceptance, assign each other to hear
4-19 cases, and otherwise manage their respective dockets in accordance
4-20 with the orders and local administrative rules.
4-21 (o) The judge of the County Court at Law of Kaufman County
4-22 has the same judicial immunity as a district judge.
4-23 SECTION 2. The County Court at Law of Kaufman County is
4-24 created January 1, 1995. The initial vacancy in the office of
4-25 judge of the County Court at Law of Kaufman County shall be filled
5-1 by appointment as provided by Section 25.0009, Government Code. The
5-2 appointee holds office until the November 5, 1996, general election
5-3 and until the successor is elected and has qualified.
5-4 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
5-5 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.