By Gallego                                             H.B. No. 848
       74R3101 CAG-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the removal procedure applying to county officers.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Sections 87.016(a)-(c), Local Government Code,
    1-5  are amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (a)  When <After> a petition for removal is filed, the person
    1-7  filing the petition shall apply to the district judge in writing
    1-8  for an order requiring a citation and a certified copy of the
    1-9  petition to be served on the officer.
   1-10        (b)  Action <If the application for the order is made during
   1-11  the term of the court, action> may not be taken on the petition
   1-12  until the order is granted and entered in the minutes of the court.
   1-13  The judge must grant or refuse to grant the order within 10 days
   1-14  after the date the application for the order is filed with the
   1-15  court.  If the order is granted during the term of the court, the
   1-16  judge shall enter the order in the minutes of the court when the
   1-17  order is granted.  If the order is granted during the vacation of
   1-18  the court, the judge shall enter the order in the minutes of the
   1-19  court promptly at the beginning of the next term of the court.  <If
   1-20  the application is made to the judge during the vacation of the
   1-21  court, the judge shall indicate on the petition the action taken
   1-22  and shall have the action entered in the minutes of the court at
   1-23  the next term.>
   1-24        (c)  If the judge does not grant <refuses to issue> the order
    2-1  within the period prescribed by Subsection (b) <for citation>, the
    2-2  petition is <shall be> dismissed by operation of law at the cost of
    2-3  the person filing the petition.  The person may not take an appeal
    2-4  or writ of error from the judge's decision.  If the judge grants
    2-5  the order within the period prescribed by Subsection (b) <for
    2-6  citation>, the clerk shall issue the citation with a certified copy
    2-7  of the petition promptly after the order is entered in the minutes
    2-8  of the court.  The judge shall require the person filing the
    2-9  petition to post security for costs in the manner provided for
   2-10  other cases.
   2-11        SECTION 2.  The amendments by this Act of Section 87.016,
   2-12  Local Government Code, relating to changes in the procedure for the
   2-13  removal of county officers, apply only to removal procedures that
   2-14  are initiated by the filing of a petition on or after September 1,
   2-15  1995.  Removal procedures that are initiated by the filing of a
   2-16  petition before that date are governed by the law in effect at the
   2-17  time the petition is filed, and the former law is continued in
   2-18  effect for this purpose.
   2-19        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-20        SECTION 4.  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.