AN ACT
1-1 relating to court administration in El Paso County, to the creation
1-2 of the County Courts at Law No. 6 and No. 7 of El Paso County,
1-3 Texas, and to the assignment of certain judges in El Paso County.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 25.0731, Government Code,
1-6 is amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) El Paso County has the following statutory county
1-8 courts:
1-9 (1) County Court at Law No. 1 of El Paso County,
1-10 Texas;
1-11 (2) County Court at Law No. 2 of El Paso County,
1-12 Texas;
1-13 (3) County Court at Law No. 3 of El Paso County,
1-14 Texas;
1-15 (4) County Court at Law No. 4 of El Paso County,
1-16 Texas; [and]
1-17 (5) County Court at Law No. 5 of El Paso County,
1-18 Texas;
1-19 (6) County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
1-20 Texas; and
1-21 (7) County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County,
1-22 Texas.
1-23 SECTION 2. Section 75.014, Government Code, is amended to
2-1 read as follows:
2-2 Sec. 75.014. EL PASO COUNCIL OF JUDGES. (a) The El Paso
2-3 Council of Judges is composed of the judges of the district courts
2-4 of El Paso County, [and] the judges of the county courts at law of
2-5 El Paso County, and the judge of the probate court of El Paso
2-6 County.
2-7 (b) The council of judges may require the district clerk to
2-8 maintain, arrange, and preserve copies of or record all or any part
2-9 of the acts, proceedings, and minutes of the council of judges.
2-10 The district clerk shall maintain, arrange, and preserve those
2-11 acts, proceedings, and minutes in the same manner that acts,
2-12 proceedings, and minutes of the district court are maintained,
2-13 arranged, and preserved.
2-14 (c) Unless the council of judges by majority vote provides
2-15 otherwise, the judges on the council of judges may sit and act for
2-16 any magistrate in the county on any unindicted felony case or on
2-17 any misdemeanor case for which an indictment has not been issued or
2-18 an information has not been filed.
2-19 (d) The offices, courtrooms, physical facilities, equipment,
2-20 furniture, and books provided by the El Paso Commissioners Court
2-21 for the court system and its auxiliary services, judges, and court
2-22 personnel, except for the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Court of
2-23 Appeals District, shall be allocated and utilized as provided by a
2-24 majority vote of the council of judges.
2-25 (e) The County Courts at Law No. 6 and No. 7 of El Paso
3-1 County, Texas, are designated as criminal misdemeanor courts.
3-2 Courts designated as criminal misdemeanor courts shall give
3-3 preference to and have primary responsibility for:
3-4 (1) criminal misdemeanor cases;
3-5 (2) appeals or petitions under Section 501.052,
3-6 521.242, 521.302, or 524.041, Transportation Code;
3-7 (3) misdemeanor bail bond and personal bond forfeiture
3-8 cases; and
3-9 (4) appeals de novo from the municipal and justice
3-10 courts.
3-11 (f) The council of judges may by majority vote periodically
3-12 change the criminal misdemeanor designations provided by Subsection
3-13 (e) so that different county courts at law are designated as
3-14 criminal misdemeanor courts. At least four county courts at law
3-15 must be designated as criminal misdemeanor courts, except that, for
3-16 any period for which the commissioners court has provided funding
3-17 for more than one criminal law magistrate judge:
3-18 (1) the council of judges may by majority vote
3-19 designate a county court at law as a family court; and
3-20 (2) there may be fewer than four designated criminal
3-21 misdemeanor courts, if the criminal misdemeanor docket permits, as
3-22 determined by a majority vote of the council of judges.
3-23 (f-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (f), before the date on
3-24 which the County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County, Texas, is
3-25 created, the council of judges shall designate two county courts at
4-1 law, in addition to the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso
4-2 County, Texas, as criminal misdemeanor courts. This subsection
4-3 expires October 2, 1998.
4-4 (g) For the effective operation of the El Paso County court
4-5 system and the effective administration of justice, the council of
4-6 judges shall order the assignment, docketing, and transfer of a
4-7 specified number or percentage and type of family law cases and
4-8 proceedings, as defined by Section 25.0002, to the county court at
4-9 law designated as a family court under Subsection (f). If, after a
4-10 county court at law is designated a family court, funding for more
4-11 than one criminal law magistrate judge is not continued, the
4-12 council of judges may order that:
4-13 (1) the designation of the county court at law as a
4-14 family law court be retracted; and
4-15 (2) a specified number or percentage and type of
4-16 family law cases and proceedings in that court be transferred to
4-17 other courts for the effective operation of the court system and
4-18 the effective administration of justice [This subsection takes
4-19 effect on the date the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
4-20 Texas, is created. The El Paso Council of Judges shall ensure that
4-21 the judge of a county court at law with the least seniority or time
4-22 on the bench as an El Paso County court at law judge serves as the
4-23 "magistrate judge" and gives preference to magistrate duties, as
4-24 those duties apply to the county jail inmate population. If two or
4-25 more new judges of the county courts at law of El Paso County take
5-1 office on the same day, the judge who has been a member of the
5-2 Texas Bar Association for the shortest time serves as the
5-3 magistrate judge. The council of judges shall ensure that the
5-4 magistrate judge's civil, probate, and criminal docket is kept to a
5-5 minimum or that causes or proceedings are not filed or docketed on
5-6 one or more of those dockets so that the judge may perform the
5-7 magistrate duties required by this section and the El Paso Council
5-8 of Judges. The council of judges shall cause any excessive
5-9 caseload on the civil, probate, or criminal dockets of the
5-10 magistrate judge to be transferred or assigned to other courts.
5-11 The council of judges shall cause the magistrate judge to maintain
5-12 the judge's courtroom at the courtroom located in the El Paso
5-13 County Jail, also known as the El Paso County Detention Facility.
5-14 When a magistrate judge is no longer the county court at law judge
5-15 with the least seniority or time on the bench as a county court at
5-16 law judge, the judge is entitled to a courtroom in the courthouse,
5-17 and the new magistrate judge is subject to this section. The
5-18 council of judges shall cause the civil, probate, and criminal
5-19 docket of a new magistrate judge to be transferred or assigned to
5-20 the former magistrate judge who has moved to the courthouse and
5-21 take all other actions to implement the objective and intent of
5-22 this subsection considering the circumstances in the county court
5-23 system. Unless the council of judges provides otherwise, criminal
5-24 cases may be assigned under Section 75.015 to the magistrate judge
5-25 without the consent of the magistrate judge, notwithstanding the
6-1 requirements for written consent to assignment and filing the
6-2 written consent to assignment with the local administrative judge
6-3 under Section 75.015].
6-4 SECTION 3. Subsection (r), Section 25.0732, Government Code,
6-5 is amended to read as follows:
6-6 (r) Sections 25.0006(b) and 25.0007 do not apply to County
6-7 Court at Law No. 2, 3, 4, [or] 5, 6, or 7 of El Paso County, Texas.
6-8 SECTION 4. Notwithstanding Section 25.0731, Government Code,
6-9 as amended by this Act:
6-10 (1) the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
6-11 Texas, is created on October 1, 1998, or on an earlier date
6-12 determined by the commissioners court in an order entered in its
6-13 minutes; and
6-14 (2) the County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County,
6-15 Texas, is created on October 1, 1998, or on an earlier date
6-16 determined by the commissioners court in an order entered in its
6-17 minutes.
6-18 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
6-19 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
6-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 726 passed the Senate on
March 13, 1997, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 726 passed the House on
April 11, 1997, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor