S.B. No. 780
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to temporary justices of the peace.
    1-2        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-3        SECTION 1.  Section 27.055, Government Code, is amended by
    1-4  amending Subsection (b) and by adding Subsections (c), (d), and (e)
    1-5  to read as follows:
    1-6        (b)  If a justice is temporarily unable to perform official
    1-7  duties because of absence, recusal, illness, injury, or other
    1-8  disability, the county judge may appoint a qualified person to
    1-9  serve as temporary justice for the duration of the disability.  The
   1-10  commissioners court shall compensate the temporary justice by the
   1-11  day, week, or month in an amount equal to the compensation of the
   1-12  regular justice.  A temporary justice has all the rights and powers
   1-13  of the justice of the peace while serving in that capacity but may
   1-14  not make personnel decisions about, or significant changes in, the
   1-15  justice of the peace's office.
   1-16        (c)  In Subsection (b), "qualified person" means a person who
   1-17  has served as a justice of the peace for not less than 4-1/2 years
   1-18  and who has not been convicted of a criminal offense that involves
   1-19  moral turpitude.
   1-20        (d)  A person appointed under Subsection (b) may reside in a
   1-21  county other than the county in which the person is appointed as a
   1-22  temporary justice of the peace.
   1-23        (e)  The county judge may appoint any qualified voter under
   1-24  Section 11.002, Election Code, to serve as a temporary justice of
    2-1  the peace if the judge cannot find a qualified person who agrees to
    2-2  serve under Subsection (b).
    2-3        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-4        SECTION 3.  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.