By Denny, et al.                                       H.B. No. 482
       74R681 MLR-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to county and district clerks reporting judicial
    1-3  appointments.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter G, Chapter 51, Government Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 51.607 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 51.607.  REPORT OF JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS.  (a)  Except
    1-8  as provided by Subsection (d), each district or county court clerk
    1-9  shall report to the Office of Court Administration on the first
   1-10  working day of each month every appointment that:
   1-11              (1)  was made during the preceding month by a judge,
   1-12  magistrate, master, or referee in a civil case in the court; and
   1-13              (2)  involves payment of a fee to a person of more than
   1-14  $250.
   1-15        (b)  The report must include the:
   1-16              (1)  name of each person appointed;
   1-17              (2)  name of the judge, magistrate, master, or referee
   1-18  making the appointment;
   1-19              (3)  number and style of the case;
   1-20              (4)  date the appointment was made;
   1-21              (5)  position to which the person was appointed;
   1-22              (6)  amount of the fee approved for payment; and
   1-23              (7)  source of the payment.
   1-24        (c)  The clerk shall report to the State Commission on
    2-1  Judicial Conduct the name of any judge, magistrate, master, or
    2-2  referee who refuses or fails to provide the clerk with the
    2-3  information required by this section.  The State Commission on
    2-4  Judicial Conduct shall send a copy of that report to the Texas
    2-5  Ethics Commission.
    2-6        (d)  The report requirement in Subsection (a) does not apply
    2-7  to an appointment to which the following applies:
    2-8              (1)  compensation is paid by a government salary rather
    2-9  than by fee;
   2-10              (2)  selection of the person appointed is a right that
   2-11  is reserved by law to a party; or
   2-12              (3)  the appointment relates to a private process
   2-13  server under Rule 103, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
   2-14        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-15  applies only to an appointment made by a judge, magistrate, master,
   2-16  or referee on or after that date.
   2-17        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   2-22                       COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
   2-23        Amend H.B. No. 482 on page 1, line 14, by striking "$250"
   2-24  and substituting "$500".
   2-25  74R11384 MLR-D                                             Hartnett