BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 1481 By: McCall 4-11-95 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND There is a perceived local need for a statutory county court in Collin County. The Collin County Commissioners Court voted to ask the 74th Legislature to create an additional court at law for Collin County, expand the probate jurisdiction of the county's courts at law and renumber the existing courts at law. There are currently 185 statutory county courts in Texas. These courts were designed to alleviate the county judge of judicial responsibilities and to ease the docket load of district courts. These courts exist in 74, mostly urban, counties and are funded almost entirely by the counties authorized by the Legislature to establish such courts. Under House Bill 66 (72nd Legislature), counties with minimum jurisdictional, judicial qualifications and standards, and pay requirements may authorize an additional state filing fee entitling the county to $25,000 per court from state revenue. The table below compares the populations, ethnic composition, and current number of statutory county court judges for all the counties which have requested new statutory county courts. Because of multiple variances in jurisdiction, valid comparisons of docket filings, management and caseload growth between the statutory county courts of different counties cannot be made. County 1990 Pop. % Black % Hispanic Current no. of judges Cameron 260,120 0.3% 81.9% 2 Collin 264,036 4.1% 6.9% 3 Denton 273,525 5.0% 7.0% 3 Matagorda 36,928 13.8% 24.6% 0 Countywide, multimember at-large elections in urban areas exist now only in the context of judicial elections. Such election systems have been traditionally employed in order to dilute minority voting strength and to deny racial minorities the ability to elect candidates of their choice. Texas is currently defending a number of suits challenging countywide, multimember, at-large elections for judicial candidates in urban areas. Because of its rich history of racial discrimination and voter intimidation, Texas is subject to Section 5 of federal Voting Rights Act, which requires Texas to preclear changes in it elections system to ensure that racial minority voting strength is not diluted. The U.S. Justice Department has refused to preclear any new multimember, urban district or county courts in Texas since 1989. It is the opinion of this committee that this bill does not violate the federal Voting Rights Act. PURPOSE This bill (1) creates a new statutory county court in Collin County, (2) expands the probate jurisdiction of Collin County's courts at law, and (3) renumbers the existing courts at law. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1 amends 25.0451 of the Government Code to renumber the county courts at law in Collin County. SECTION 2 adds 25.0452 to the Government Code, expanding the probate jurisdiction for Collin County's courts at law. SECTION 3 creates the County Court at Law No. 4 of Collin County as of October 1, 1995, or an earlier date determined by the commissioners court. SECTION 4. Effective date. SECTION 5. Emergency clause. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS Committee Amendment No. 1 prohibits the judge of the court created by this bill from serving as an assigned (visiting) judge in Bexar, Dallas, Ector, Fort Bend, Harris, Jefferson, Lubbock, Midland, Tarrant or Travis County. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION Pursuant to a public notice posted on March 8, 1995, the Committee on Judicial Affairs met in a public hearing on March 14, 1995. The Chair referred H.B. 1481 directly to the Subcommittee on Judicial Reform. The members of the subcommittee were Reps. Alonzo (Chair), Duncan, Solis, Thompson and Willis. Pursuant to a public notice posted on March 23, 1995, the Subcommittee on Judicial Reform met in a public hearing on March 28, 1995, to consider H.B. 1481. The Chair, Rep. Alonzo, laid out H.B. 1481 and recognized the author, Rep. McCall, to explain his bill. The following witnesses testified for the bill: John Barry, judge of Collin County Court at Law #3, representing himself; and, Phyllis Cole, Collin County Commissioner, representing the Collin County Commissioners Court. Without objection, the Chair left H.B. 1481 pending before the subcommittee. Pursuant to a public notice posted on April 6, 1995, the Committee on Judicial Affairs met in a public hearing on April 11, 1995, to consider H.B. 1481. Without objection, the Chair, Rep. Hartnett, recalled House Bill 1481 from subcommittee. The Chair laid out H.B. 1481 and recognized George Korbel, representing himself, to testify neutrally on H.B. 1481. The Chair recognized the author, Rep. McCall, to explain the bill. Rep. Goodman offered up Committee Amendment No. 1. There being no objection, the Chair laid out Committee Amendment No. 1 and recognized Rep. Goodman to explain the amendment. Rep. Goodman moved to adopt Committee Amendment No. 1; there being no objection, the amendment was adopted. Rep. Goodman moved that H.B. 1481, as amended, be reported favorably back to the full House with the recommendation that it do pass, be printed and sent to the Local & Consent Calendars Committee. The motion prevailed by the following record vote: 7 ayes, 0 nays, 0 PNV and 2 absent.