By Gutierrez H.B. No. 1740 74R4818 MLR-F A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to temporary justices of the peace. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Section 27.055, Government Code, is amended by 1-5 amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (c), (d), and (e) to 1-6 read as follows: 1-7 (b) If a justice is temporarily unable to perform official 1-8 duties because of absence, recusal, illness, injury, or other 1-9 disability, the county judge may appoint a qualified person to 1-10 serve as temporary justice for the duration of the disability. The 1-11 commissioners court shall compensate the temporary justice by the 1-12 day, week, or month in an amount equal to the compensation of the 1-13 regular justice. A temporary justice has all the rights and powers 1-14 of the justice of the peace while serving in that capacity but may 1-15 not make personnel decisions about, or significant changes in, the 1-16 justice of the peace's office. 1-17 (c) In Subsection (b), "qualified person" means a person who 1-18 has served as a justice of the peace for not less than 4-1/2 years 1-19 and who has not been convicted of a criminal offense that involves 1-20 moral turpitude. 1-21 (d) A person appointed under Subsection (b) may reside in a 1-22 county other than the county in which the person is appointed as a 1-23 temporary justice of the peace. 1-24 (e) The county judge may appoint any qualified voter under 2-1 Section 11.002, Election Code, to serve as a temporary justice of 2-2 the peace if the judge cannot find a qualified person who agrees to 2-3 serve under Subsection (b). 2-4 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 2-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-9 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-10 passage, and it is so enacted.