By Wentworth                                          S.B. No. 1384
       74R8184 MLR-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the recusal of judges on the supreme court and the
    1-3  court of criminal appeals.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 22.005(a), Government Code, is amended to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  The chief justice shall certify to the governor the
    1-8  following facts when they occur:
    1-9              (1)  a justice <at least five members> of the supreme
   1-10  court has recused himself under the Texas Rules of Appellate
   1-11  Procedure or is otherwise <are> disqualified under the constitution
   1-12  and laws of this state to hear and determine a case in the court;
   1-13  or
   1-14              (2)  the justices of the court are equally divided in
   1-15  opinion because of the absence, recusal, or disqualification of one
   1-16  of its members.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  Section 22.105(a), Government Code, is amended to
   1-18  read as follows:
   1-19        (a)  The fact that a judge of the court of criminal appeals
   1-20  has recused himself under the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure or
   1-21  is otherwise disqualified under the constitution and laws of this
   1-22  state to hear and determine a case shall be certified to the
   1-23  governor.
   1-24        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-5  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-6  passage, and it is so enacted.