By Shapleigh S.B. No. 726
75R6752 ESH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to court administration in El Paso County, to the creation
1-3 of the County Courts at Law No. 6 and No. 7 of El Paso County,
1-4 Texas, and to the assignment of certain judges in El Paso County.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 25.0731(a), Government Code, is amended
1-7 to read as follows:
1-8 (a) El Paso County has the following statutory county
1-9 courts:
1-10 (1) County Court at Law No. 1 of El Paso County,
1-11 Texas;
1-12 (2) County Court at Law No. 2 of El Paso County,
1-13 Texas;
1-14 (3) County Court at Law No. 3 of El Paso County,
1-15 Texas;
1-16 (4) County Court at Law No. 4 of El Paso County,
1-17 Texas; [and]
1-18 (5) County Court at Law No. 5 of El Paso County,
1-19 Texas;
1-20 (6) County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
1-21 Texas; and
1-22 (7) County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County,
1-23 Texas.
1-24 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
2-26 County, Texas, are designated as criminal misdemeanor courts.
2-27 Courts designated as criminal misdemeanor courts shall give
3-1 preference to and have primary responsibility for:
3-2 (1) criminal misdemeanor cases;
3-3 (2) appeals or petitions under Section 501.052,
3-4 521.242, 521.302, or 524.041, Transportation Code;
3-5 (3) misdemeanor bail bond and personal bond forfeiture
3-6 cases; and
3-7 (4) appeals de novo from the municipal and justice
3-8 courts.
3-9 (f) The council of judges may by majority vote periodically
3-10 change the criminal misdemeanor designations provided by Subsection
3-11 (e) so that different county courts at law are designated as
3-12 criminal misdemeanor courts. At least four county courts at law
3-13 must be designated as criminal misdemeanor courts, except that, for
3-14 any period for which the commissioners court has provided funding
3-15 for more than one criminal law magistrate judge:
3-16 (1) the council of judges may by majority vote
3-17 designate a county court at law as a family court; and
3-18 (2) there may be fewer than four designated criminal
3-19 misdemeanor courts, if the criminal misdemeanor docket permits, as
3-20 determined by a majority vote of the council of judges.
3-21 (f-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (f), before the date on
3-22 which the County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County, Texas, is
3-23 created, the council of judges shall designate two county courts at
3-24 law, in addition to the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso
3-25 County, Texas, as criminal misdemeanor courts. This subsection
3-26 expires October 2, 1998.
3-27 (g) For the effective operation of the El Paso County court
4-1 system and the effective administration of justice, the council of
4-2 judges shall order the assignment, docketing, and transfer of a
4-3 specified number or percentage and type of family law cases and
4-4 proceedings, as defined by Section 25.0002, to the county court at
4-5 law designated as a family court under Subsection (f). If, after a
4-6 county court at law is designated a family court, funding for more
4-7 than one criminal law magistrate judge is not continued, the
4-8 council of judges may order that:
4-9 (1) the designation of the county court at law as a
4-10 family law court be retracted; and
4-11 (2) a specified number or percentage and type of
4-12 family law cases and proceedings in that court be transferred to
4-13 other courts for the effective operation of the court system and
4-14 the effective administration of justice [This subsection takes
4-15 effect on the date the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
4-16 Texas, is created. The El Paso Council of Judges shall ensure that
4-17 the judge of a county court at law with the least seniority or time
4-18 on the bench as an El Paso County court at law judge serves as the
4-19 "magistrate judge" and gives preference to magistrate duties, as
4-20 those duties apply to the county jail inmate population. If two or
4-21 more new judges of the county courts at law of El Paso County take
4-22 office on the same day, the judge who has been a member of the
4-23 Texas Bar Association for the shortest time serves as the
4-24 magistrate judge. The council of judges shall ensure that the
4-25 magistrate judge's civil, probate, and criminal docket is kept to a
4-26 minimum or that causes or proceedings are not filed or docketed on
4-27 one or more of those dockets so that the judge may perform the
5-1 magistrate duties required by this section and the El Paso Council
5-2 of Judges. The council of judges shall cause any excessive
5-3 caseload on the civil, probate, or criminal dockets of the
5-4 magistrate judge to be transferred or assigned to other courts.
5-5 The council of judges shall cause the magistrate judge to maintain
5-6 the judge's courtroom at the courtroom located in the El Paso
5-7 County Jail, also known as the El Paso County Detention Facility.
5-8 When a magistrate judge is no longer the county court at law judge
5-9 with the least seniority or time on the bench as a county court at
5-10 law judge, the judge is entitled to a courtroom in the courthouse,
5-11 and the new magistrate judge is subject to this section. The
5-12 council of judges shall cause the civil, probate, and criminal
5-13 docket of a new magistrate judge to be transferred or assigned to
5-14 the former magistrate judge who has moved to the courthouse and
5-15 take all other actions to implement the objective and intent of
5-16 this subsection considering the circumstances in the county court
5-17 system. Unless the council of judges provides otherwise, criminal
5-18 cases may be assigned under Section 75.015 to the magistrate judge
5-19 without the consent of the magistrate judge, notwithstanding the
5-20 requirements for written consent to assignment and filing the
5-21 written consent to assignment with the local administrative judge
5-22 under Section 75.015].
5-23 SECTION 3. Section 25.0732(r), Government Code, is amended
5-24 to read as follows:
5-25 (r) Sections 25.0006(b) and 25.0007 do not apply to County
5-26 Court at Law No. 2, 3, 4, [or] 5, 6, or 7 of El Paso County, Texas.
5-27 SECTION 4. Notwithstanding Section 25.0731, Government Code,
6-1 as amended by this Act:
6-2 (1) the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
6-3 Texas, is created on October 1, 1998, or on an earlier date
6-4 determined by the commissioners court in an order entered in its
6-5 minutes; and
6-6 (2) the County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County,
6-7 Texas, is created on October 1, 1998, or on an earlier date
6-8 determined by the commissioners court in an order entered in its
6-9 minutes.
6-10 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
6-11 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
6-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.