1-1     By:  Ratliff                                            S.B. No. 24

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed April 9, 1997; April 10, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;

 1-4     April 23, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 7,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 23, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the terms of the district courts in Bowie County.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 24.105, Government Code,

1-11     is amended to read as follows:

1-12           (d)  The terms of the 5th District Court begin:

1-13                 (1)  in Bowie County on the first Mondays in January

1-14     and[, April,] July[, and October]; and

1-15                 (2)  in Cass County on the first Mondays in February,

1-16     May, August, and November.

1-17           SECTION 2.  Subsection (b), Section 24.204, Government Code,

1-18     is amended to read as follows:

1-19           (b)  The terms of the 102nd District Court begin:

1-20                 (1)  in Bowie County on the first Mondays in January

1-21     and[, April,] July[, and October]; and

1-22                 (2)  in Red River County on the first Mondays in

1-23     February, May, August, and November.

1-24           SECTION 3.  Subsection (d), Section 24.381, Government Code,

1-25     is amended to read as follows:

1-26           (d)  The terms of the 202nd District Court begin on the first

1-27     Mondays in January and[, April,] July[, and October].  During each

1-28     term of court in Bowie County, the court may sit in Texarkana to

1-29     try, hear, and determine any civil nonjury case, may hear and

1-30     determine motions, agreements, and other nonjury civil matters that

1-31     come before the court, and may hear and determine any criminal

1-32     nonjury matters, including pleas of guilty, both felony and

1-33     misdemeanor, when a jury has been waived.  This subsection does not

1-34     limit the court's power to hear those matters in Boston.

1-35           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-36           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-37     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-38     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-39     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-40     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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