By Davis, Thompson H.B. No. 959
74R2662 MLR-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to certain retired and former judges.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 74.0551(b), Government Code, is amended
1-5 to read as follows:
1-6 (b) <A retired or former judge shall make an initial
1-7 certification of willingness not to appear and plead not later than
1-8 the 90th day after the date the person leaves active service.> An
1-9 initial certification of willingness not to appear and plead made
1-10 before the judge leaves active service extends through December 31
1-11 of the year following the year in which the judge leaves active
1-12 service. An initial certification made after the judge leaves
1-13 active service extends through December 31 of the year following
1-14 the year in which the certification is made.
1-15 SECTION 2. A retiree under Subtitle F, Title 8, Government
1-16 Code, who has 12 years or more of service as a judge of a county
1-17 court and whose last date of service as a judge was on or before
1-18 December 31, 1990, may elect, before January 1, 1996, to be a
1-19 judicial officer for purposes of Section 75.001, Government Code.
1-20 A retiree under this section may be assigned under Chapter 74,
1-21 Government Code, as if the retiree met the requirements of Section
1-22 74.055, Government Code.
1-23 SECTION 3. The changes in Section 74.0551, Government Code,
1-24 made by this Act relating to a retired or former judge's initial
2-1 certification of willingness not to appear and serve as an attorney
2-2 in court apply only to a judge who leaves active service on or
2-3 after the effective date of this Act. A judge who leaves active
2-4 service before that date is governed by the law in effect when that
2-5 judge left active service, and the prior law is continued in effect
2-6 for that purpose.
2-7 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-13 passage, and it is so enacted.