BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 2286 By: Kuempel 4-25-95 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Under current law, the filing of a petition for an essential need license (for a person whose license has been suspended) is to be filed with the judge of the county court or district court. In these cases, the judge sends the person to the clerk for filing and then the person is re-directed back to the judge. All other petitions are first filed with the clerk. PURPOSE The proposed legislation would clarify that filing of a petition for an essential need license (for a person whose license has been suspended) is a civil action and that the petition must first be filed with the clerk. 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 Article 6687b of the Texas Revised Civil Statutes, by changing the person with whom the filing of a petition for an essential need license (for a person whose license has been suspended) takes place from the judge to the clerk of a county or district court. New Subsec. (a)(3) is added to provide that the clerk of the court shall file the petition as in any other civil matter. Current Subsec. (a)(3) is renumbered as (a)(4). SECTION 2. Effective date. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION Pursuant to a public notice posted on April 20, 1995, the Committee on Judicial Affairs met in a public hearing on April 25, 1995, to consider House Bill 2286. The Chair laid out H.B. 2286 and recognized the author, Rep. Kuempel, to explain the bill. There were no witnesses. Without objection, the Chair moved to leave H.B. 2286 pending. Following subsequent business, the Chair again laid out H.B. 2286 and moved to report H.B. 2286 favorably back to the full House, without amendment, with the recommendation that it do pass, be printed and sent to the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars. The motion prevailed by the following record vote: 5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 PNV and 4 absent.