By Place                                              H.B. No. 1648
       74R6643 GWK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the criminal jurisdiction of justice courts.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Article 4.11, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        Art. 4.11.  JURISDICTION OF JUSTICE COURTS.  (a)  Justices of
    1-7  the peace shall have original jurisdiction in criminal cases:
    1-8              (1)  punishable by fine only; or
    1-9              (2)  punishable by:
   1-10                    (A)  a fine; and
   1-11                    (B)  as authorized by statute, a sanction not
   1-12  consisting of confinement or imprisonment that is rehabilitative or
   1-13  remedial in nature <where the fine to be imposed by law may not
   1-14  exceed five hundred dollars>.
   1-15        (b)  The fact that a conviction in a justice court has as a
   1-16  consequence the imposition of a penalty or sanction by an agency or
   1-17  entity other than the court, such as a denial, suspension, or
   1-18  revocation of a privilege, does not affect the original
   1-19  jurisdiction of the justice court.
   1-20        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-21        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-22  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-23  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-24  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.