1-1 By: Brown S.B. No. 576
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 15, 1995; February 16, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 March 15, 1995, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; March 15, 1995,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 576 By: Brown
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the criminal jurisdiction of justice courts and
1-11 municipal courts.
1-12 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13 SECTION 1. Article 4.11, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-14 amended to read as follows:
1-15 Art. 4.11. JURISDICTION OF JUSTICE COURTS AND MUNICIPAL
1-16 COURTS. (a) Justices of the peace and municipal court judges
1-17 shall have original jurisdiction in criminal cases:
1-18 (1) punishable by fine only; or
1-19 (2) punishable by:
1-20 (A) a fine; and
1-21 (B) as authorized by statute, a sanction not
1-22 consisting of confinement or imprisonment that is rehabilitative or
1-23 remedial in nature <where the fine to be imposed by law may not
1-24 exceed five hundred dollars>.
1-25 (b) The fact that a conviction in a justice court or
1-26 municipal court has as a consequence the imposition of a penalty or
1-27 sanction by an agency or entity other than the court, such as a
1-28 denial, suspension, or revocation of a privilege, does not affect
1-29 the original jurisdiction of the justice court.
1-30 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately.
1-31 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-32 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-33 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-34 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-35 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-36 * * * * *