CN C.S.H.B. 3560 75(R) BILL ANALYSIS JUDICIAL AFFAIRS H.B. 3560 By: Goodman C.S.H.B. 3560 By: Thompson 4-16-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND At the present time all salaries for constitutional county judges are paid by the county. Because some constitutional county judges perform judicial functions, some officials believe it is appropriate to provide a salary supplement to those judges whose duties require them to spend at least 40 percent of their time on judicial functions. Others believe that the state should supplement the salaries of certain county attorneys carrying out duties relevant to judicial functions. PURPOSE C.S.H.B. 3560 entitles qualifying constitutional county judges to an annual state salary supplement of $5,000 and county attorneys, who do not have general felony jurisdiction, to an annual state salary supplement as set out in the General Appropriations Act. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1 adds new Sec. 26.006 to Subchapter A, Chapter 26, of the Government Code. Subsec. (a) grants a county judge a $5000 per year salary supplement from the state if at least 40 (forty) percent of the duties the judge performs are judicial functions. Subsec. (b) provides that to receive the salary supplement, the judge must file an affidavit with the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System stating that the duties of the judge are at least 40 percent judicial functions. It further requires the office of Office of Court Administration to send the affidavit to the comptroller. SECTION 2 adds Sec. 45.003 to Subchapter A, Chapter 45, Government Code to provide that a county attorney, who does not have general felony jurisdiction, is entitled to an annual salary supplement from the state as set out in the General Appropriations Act. SECTION 3. Effective date. SECTION 4. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE Government Code Section 45.003, in Section 2 of the substitute, was changed to provide that the annual salary supplement to county attorneys is as set out in the General Appropriations Act; in the original bill, the salary supplement was $2500 annually. In the same section in the original bill, the county attorneys entitled to the supplement were those who did not represent the state in district court; in the substitute, this was changed to county attorneys who do not have general felony jurisdiction.