By Holzheauser                                        H.B. No. 2879
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the private practice of law and referral of certain
    1-3  cases by criminal district attorneys.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 44, Government Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 44.003 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 44.003.  Private Practice Prohibited.  A criminal
    1-8  district attorney may not engage in the private practice of law and
    1-9  may not collect a fee for referring a civil case to another
   1-10  attorney or law firm.
   1-11        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-12        SECTION 3.  This Act applies only to collection of fees for
   1-13  referrals of civil cases made on or after the effective date of
   1-14  this Act.  The collection of a fee for a referral made before the
   1-15  effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the
   1-16  time the referral was made, and that law is continued in effect for
   1-17  that purpose.
   1-18        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.