1-1           By:  Wentworth                                   S.B. No. 607

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 14, 1997; February 19, 1997,

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

 1-4     March 4, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6,

 1-5     Nays 0; March 4, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the assignment of certain appellate judges and justices

 1-9     as visiting judges.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 74.054, Government Code,

1-12     is amended to read as follows:

1-13           (a)  Except as provided by Subsections (b) and (c), the

1-14     following judges may be assigned as provided by this chapter by the

1-15     presiding judge of the administrative region in which the assigned

1-16     judge resides:

1-17                 (1)  a regular district, constitutional county, or

1-18     statutory county court judge in this state;

1-19                 (2)  a district or appellate judge who is a retiree

1-20     under Subtitle D or E of Title 8, who has consented to be subject

1-21     to assignment, and who is on the list maintained by the presiding

1-22     judge under this chapter;

1-23                 (3)  a former district or appellate judge, retired or

1-24     former statutory probate court judge, or retired or former

1-25     statutory county court judge who certifies to the presiding judge a

1-26     willingness to serve and who is on the list maintained by the

1-27     presiding judge as required by this chapter;

1-28                 (4)  a retiree or a former judge whose last judicial

1-29     office before retirement was justice or judge of the supreme court,

1-30     the court of criminal appeals, or a court of appeals and who has

1-31     been assigned by the chief justice to the administrative judicial

1-32     region in which the retiree or former judge resides for

1-33     reassignment by the presiding judge of that region to a district or

1-34     statutory county court in the region; and

1-35                 (5)  an active judge or [court of appeals] justice of

1-36     the supreme court, the court of criminal appeals, or a court of

1-37     appeals who has had trial court experience.

1-38           SECTION 2.  Subsection (b), Section 74.060, Government Code,

1-39     is amended to read as follows:

1-40           (b)  An active judge or [court of appeals] justice of the

1-41     supreme court, the court of criminal appeals, or a court of appeals

1-42     may not be assigned if the judge or justice has served 14 or more

1-43     days as a visiting judge under this chapter in the year in which

1-44     the assignment is to be made.  This subsection applies only to an

1-45     initial assignment to a case and does not affect a judge's or

1-46     justice's continuing to sit in a particular case [in one year as a

1-47     visiting judge for more than four cases].

1-48           SECTION 3.  Subsection (g), Section 74.061, Government Code,

1-49     is amended to read as follows:

1-50           (g)  An active judge or [court of appeals] justice of the

1-51     supreme court, the court of criminal appeals, or a court of appeals

1-52     assigned under this subchapter is not entitled to receive any

1-53     additional compensation for serving as a visiting judge.  A court

1-54     of appeals [If the] justice [is] assigned to a court outside his

1-55     own court of appeals district, a justice of the supreme court, or a

1-56     judge of the court of criminal appeals [the justice] is entitled to

1-57     receive actual expenses in going to and returning from assignment

1-58     and actual living expenses while in the performance of duties under

1-59     the assignment.  The county in which the duties are performed shall

1-60     pay the expenses out of the county's general fund on accounts

1-61     certified and approved by the presiding judge of the administrative

1-62     region for that county.

1-63           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-64     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-4     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-5     passage, and it is so enacted.

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