By Henderson                                           S.B. No. 903
       74R4888 MLR-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the assignment of certain former judges and justices.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 74.041, Government Code, is amended by
    1-5  adding Subdivision (2) and renumbering the remaining subdivisions
    1-6  to read as follows:
    1-7              (2)  "Former judge" or "former justice" means a person
    1-8  who was elected or appointed by the governor to an appellate,
    1-9  district, statutory, or county court and who is not serving as a
   1-10  judge of one of those courts.
   1-11              (3)  "Presiding judge" means the presiding judge of an
   1-12  administrative region.
   1-13              (4) <(3)>  "Retiree" means a person who has retired
   1-14  under the Judicial Retirement System of Texas, the Judicial
   1-15  Retirement System of Texas Plan One, or the Judicial Retirement
   1-16  System of Texas Plan Two.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 74, Government Code, is
   1-18  amended by adding Section 74.0411 to read as follows:
   1-19        Sec. 74.0411.  FORMER JUDGE OR JUSTICE.  A person may qualify
   1-20  to be assigned as a former judge or former justice under this
   1-21  chapter only if the person:
   1-22              (1)  was not defeated for reelection to an appellate,
   1-23  district, statutory, or county court; and
   1-24              (2)  is not a retiree.
    2-1        SECTION 3.  Sections 74.053(b) and (d), Government Code, are
    2-2  amended to read as follows:
    2-3        (b)  If a party to a civil or criminal case files a timely
    2-4  objection to the assignment, the judge shall not hear the case.
    2-5  Except as provided by Subsection (d), each party to the case is
    2-6  only entitled to one objection under this section for that case.
    2-7        (d)  A former judge or justice <who was not a retired judge>
    2-8  may not sit in a civil or criminal case if either party objects to
    2-9  the judge or justice.
   2-10        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-11  applies to a former judge or former justice assigned to a civil or
   2-12  criminal case on or after that date.  An assignment of a former
   2-13  judge or former justice made before the effective date of this Act
   2-14  is covered by the law in effect on the date the assignment was
   2-15  made, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-16        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-17  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-18  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-19  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-20  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.