1-1  By:  Luna                                              S.B. No. 780
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed February 27, 1995; February 28, 1995,
    1-3  read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
    1-4  March 21, 1995, reported favorably, as amended, by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; March 21, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6  COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1                                 By:  Luna
    1-7  Amend S.B. No. 780 by striking SECTION 2 and substituting the
    1-8  following:
    1-9        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-10        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   1-15                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
   1-16                                AN ACT
   1-17  relating to temporary justices of the peace.
   1-18        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-19        SECTION 1.  Section 27.055, Government Code, is amended by
   1-20  amending Subsection (b) and by adding Subsections (c), (d), and (e)
   1-21  to read as follows:
   1-22        (b)  If a justice is temporarily unable to perform official
   1-23  duties because of absence, recusal, illness, injury, or other
   1-24  disability, the county judge may appoint a qualified person to
   1-25  serve as temporary justice for the duration of the disability.  The
   1-26  commissioners court shall compensate the temporary justice by the
   1-27  day, week, or month in an amount equal to the compensation of the
   1-28  regular justice.  A temporary justice has all the rights and powers
   1-29  of the justice of the peace while serving in that capacity but may
   1-30  not make personnel decisions about, or significant changes in, the
   1-31  justice of the peace's office.
   1-32        (c)  In Subsection (b), "qualified person" means a person who
   1-33  has served as a justice of the peace for not less than 4-1/2 years
   1-34  and who has not been convicted of a criminal offense that involves
   1-35  moral turpitude.
   1-36        (d)  A person appointed under Subsection (b) may reside in a
   1-37  county other than the county in which the person is appointed as a
   1-38  temporary justice of the peace.
   1-39        (e)  The county judge may appoint any qualified voter under
   1-40  Section 11.002, Election Code, to serve as a temporary justice of
   1-41  the peace if the judge cannot find a qualified person who agrees to
   1-42  serve under Subsection (b).
   1-43        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-44  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-45  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-46  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-47  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-48  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-49  passage, and it is so enacted.
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