PMJ H.J.R. 24 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS JUDICIAL AFFAIRS H.J.R. 24 By: Thompson 3-5-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Only Texas and Oklahoma have separate courts of last resort for civil and criminal matters. The Oklahoma Supreme Court has the authority to decide questions of jurisdiction between the two courts. This leaves Texas as the only state with a completely separate high court structure. The Citizen's Commission on the Texas Judicial System, which issued its report to the Supreme Court and the Texas Judicial Council in 1992, recommended merging the Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals. The Commission found that on several occasions in the last century, the courts had disagreed on certain questions. The court recommended by the Commission would still consist of two divisions but would be able to operate as one court when questions of jurisdiction arose. Political reality has made this proposal impractical. Section 3-c, Article V, Texas Constitution, was added in 1985, to allow the two high state courts to answer questions of state law certified from federal courts and to promulgate rules of procedure relating to the review of those questions. Allowing similar communications between the two courts is a more practical solution than the merger of the two courts in dealing with the separation of the high court functions. PURPOSE The purpose of this proposed constitutional amendment is to allow the Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals to answer certified questions of law from the other high court. 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 amends Section 3-c, Article V, Texas Constitution, by adding new subsections (b) and (c) as follows and relettering previous subsection (b) as (d). New Subsec. (b) would allow the Supreme Court to answer questions of law certified by the Court of Criminal Appeals. New Subsec. (c) would allow the Court of Criminal Appeals to answer questions of law certified by the Supreme Court. SECTION 2. Temporary Provision. This provision contains the effective date of this proposed constitutional amendment. In order to keep the effective date out of the Constitution itself, this entire section contains an expiration date. SECTION 3. Ballot date. Ballot wording.