By Luna                                               S.B. No. 1608
       74R8638 MWV-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the election of municipal court of record judges in San
    1-3  Antonio.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 30.084(b), Government Code, is amended to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        (b)  The city shall provide by charter for the <appointment
    1-8  or> election of 10 full-time municipal judges from single-member
    1-9  districts <a municipal judge>.  Each judge representing a district
   1-10  must reside in the district.  The city council shall base the
   1-11  districts on the boundaries of city council districts.  The
   1-12  selection must be for a definite term of not less than two nor more
   1-13  than four years, the duration of which within these limits shall be
   1-14  determined by charter, ordinance, or the method prescribed in
   1-15  Article XI, Section 11, of the Texas Constitution.  The city
   1-16  council shall appoint, from a list supplied by a majority of the
   1-17  full-time judges, six persons to serve as part-time municipal
   1-18  judges.  Part-time judges serve at the will of the majority of the
   1-19  full-time judges and do not serve a term.  A vacancy in the office
   1-20  of part-time judge is filled in the same manner as the original
   1-21  appointment.
   1-22        SECTION 2.  Section 30.084(e), Government Code, is amended to
   1-23  read as follows:
   1-24        (e)  The full-time judges shall select, by majority vote, one
    2-1  of the full-time judges to serve as presiding municipal judge for a
    2-2  six-month term.  There is no limit on the number of terms a judge
    2-3  may serve as presiding municipal judge, but a judge may not serve
    2-4  more than two consecutive terms as presiding municipal judge  <If
    2-5  there is more than one municipal judge, the governing body shall
    2-6  appoint one of the judges to be the presiding municipal judge.  If
    2-7  the city has only one municipal judge or only one permanent,
    2-8  full-time municipal judge, that judge is the presiding municipal
    2-9  judge>.
   2-10        SECTION 3.  This Act applies to selection of municipal court
   2-11  of record judges in San Antonio for terms beginning on or after
   2-12  January 1, 1996.  A judge in office on the effective date of this
   2-13  Act, unless otherwise removed from office, continues to serve until
   2-14  judges have been elected as provided by this Act.
   2-15        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-17  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.