By Luna, Berlanga, Seaman                             H.B. No. 3565

         75R8556 MLS-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the duties of the district clerk of Nueces County.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 25.1802(n), Government Code, is amended

 1-5     to read as follows:

 1-6           (n)  The district clerk serves as clerk of a county court at

 1-7     law in cases enumerated in Subsection (a) [in the concurrent

 1-8     jurisdiction of the county courts at law and the district courts,

 1-9     and the county clerk serves as the clerk in all other cases].  The

1-10     district clerk shall establish a separate docket for each county

1-11     court at law.  In matters of concurrent jurisdiction with the

1-12     district court, the district clerk shall [and] charge the same

1-13     fees as are allowed in district court cases, except that in cases

1-14     enumerated in Subsections (a)(2), (a)(3), and (a)(5), and in

1-15     misdemeanor cases other than those involving official misconduct,

1-16     the clerk may not charge higher fees than the fees charged by

1-17     county clerks for similar cases.

1-18           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-19     applies only to cases filed in a county court at law on or after

1-20     the effective date of this Act.  A case filed before the effective

1-21     date of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately

1-22     before this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that

1-23     purpose.

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.