1-1 By: Shapleigh S.B. No. 726
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 24, 1997; February 26, 1997,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 March 11, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
1-5 Nays 0; March 11, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to court administration in El Paso County, to the creation
1-9 of the County Courts at Law No. 6 and No. 7 of El Paso County,
1-10 Texas, and to the assignment of certain judges in El Paso County.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 25.0731, Government Code,
1-13 is amended to read as follows:
1-14 (a) El Paso County has the following statutory county
1-15 courts:
1-16 (1) County Court at Law No. 1 of El Paso County,
1-17 Texas;
1-18 (2) County Court at Law No. 2 of El Paso County,
1-19 Texas;
1-20 (3) County Court at Law No. 3 of El Paso County,
1-21 Texas;
1-22 (4) County Court at Law No. 4 of El Paso County,
1-23 Texas; [and]
1-24 (5) County Court at Law No. 5 of El Paso County,
1-25 Texas;
1-26 (6) County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
1-27 Texas; and
1-28 (7) County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County,
1-29 Texas.
1-30 SECTION 2. Section 75.014, Government Code, is amended to
1-31 read as follows:
1-32 Sec. 75.014. EL PASO COUNCIL OF JUDGES. (a) The El Paso
1-33 Council of Judges is composed of the judges of the district courts
1-34 of El Paso County, [and] the judges of the county courts at law of
1-35 El Paso County, and the judge of the probate court of El Paso
1-36 County.
1-37 (b) The council of judges may require the district clerk to
1-38 maintain, arrange, and preserve copies of or record all or any part
1-39 of the acts, proceedings, and minutes of the council of judges.
1-40 The district clerk shall maintain, arrange, and preserve those
1-41 acts, proceedings, and minutes in the same manner that acts,
1-42 proceedings, and minutes of the district court are maintained,
1-43 arranged, and preserved.
1-44 (c) Unless the council of judges by majority vote provides
1-45 otherwise, the judges on the council of judges may sit and act for
1-46 any magistrate in the county on any unindicted felony case or on
1-47 any misdemeanor case for which an indictment has not been issued or
1-48 an information has not been filed.
1-49 (d) The offices, courtrooms, physical facilities, equipment,
1-50 furniture, and books provided by the El Paso Commissioners Court
1-51 for the court system and its auxiliary services, judges, and court
1-52 personnel, except for the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Court of
1-53 Appeals District, shall be allocated and utilized as provided by a
1-54 majority vote of the council of judges.
1-55 (e) The County Courts at Law No. 6 and No. 7 of El Paso
1-56 County, Texas, are designated as criminal misdemeanor courts.
1-57 Courts designated as criminal misdemeanor courts shall give
1-58 preference to and have primary responsibility for:
1-59 (1) criminal misdemeanor cases;
1-60 (2) appeals or petitions under Section 501.052,
1-61 521.242, 521.302, or 524.041, Transportation Code;
1-62 (3) misdemeanor bail bond and personal bond forfeiture
1-63 cases; and
1-64 (4) appeals de novo from the municipal and justice
2-1 courts.
2-2 (f) The council of judges may by majority vote periodically
2-3 change the criminal misdemeanor designations provided by Subsection
2-4 (e) so that different county courts at law are designated as
2-5 criminal misdemeanor courts. At least four county courts at law
2-6 must be designated as criminal misdemeanor courts, except that, for
2-7 any period for which the commissioners court has provided funding
2-8 for more than one criminal law magistrate judge:
2-9 (1) the council of judges may by majority vote
2-10 designate a county court at law as a family court; and
2-11 (2) there may be fewer than four designated criminal
2-12 misdemeanor courts, if the criminal misdemeanor docket permits, as
2-13 determined by a majority vote of the council of judges.
2-14 (f-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (f), before the date on
2-15 which the County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County, Texas, is
2-16 created, the council of judges shall designate two county courts at
2-17 law, in addition to the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso
2-18 County, Texas, as criminal misdemeanor courts. This subsection
2-19 expires October 2, 1998.
2-20 (g) For the effective operation of the El Paso County court
2-21 system and the effective administration of justice, the council of
2-22 judges shall order the assignment, docketing, and transfer of a
2-23 specified number or percentage and type of family law cases and
2-24 proceedings, as defined by Section 25.0002, to the county court at
2-25 law designated as a family court under Subsection (f). If, after a
2-26 county court at law is designated a family court, funding for more
2-27 than one criminal law magistrate judge is not continued, the
2-28 council of judges may order that:
2-29 (1) the designation of the county court at law as a
2-30 family law court be retracted; and
2-31 (2) a specified number or percentage and type of
2-32 family law cases and proceedings in that court be transferred to
2-33 other courts for the effective operation of the court system and
2-34 the effective administration of justice [This subsection takes
2-35 effect on the date the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
2-36 Texas, is created. The El Paso Council of Judges shall ensure that
2-37 the judge of a county court at law with the least seniority or time
2-38 on the bench as an El Paso County court at law judge serves as the
2-39 "magistrate judge" and gives preference to magistrate duties, as
2-40 those duties apply to the county jail inmate population. If two or
2-41 more new judges of the county courts at law of El Paso County take
2-42 office on the same day, the judge who has been a member of the
2-43 Texas Bar Association for the shortest time serves as the
2-44 magistrate judge. The council of judges shall ensure that the
2-45 magistrate judge's civil, probate, and criminal docket is kept to a
2-46 minimum or that causes or proceedings are not filed or docketed on
2-47 one or more of those dockets so that the judge may perform the
2-48 magistrate duties required by this section and the El Paso Council
2-49 of Judges. The council of judges shall cause any excessive
2-50 caseload on the civil, probate, or criminal dockets of the
2-51 magistrate judge to be transferred or assigned to other courts.
2-52 The council of judges shall cause the magistrate judge to maintain
2-53 the judge's courtroom at the courtroom located in the El Paso
2-54 County Jail, also known as the El Paso County Detention Facility.
2-55 When a magistrate judge is no longer the county court at law judge
2-56 with the least seniority or time on the bench as a county court at
2-57 law judge, the judge is entitled to a courtroom in the courthouse,
2-58 and the new magistrate judge is subject to this section. The
2-59 council of judges shall cause the civil, probate, and criminal
2-60 docket of a new magistrate judge to be transferred or assigned to
2-61 the former magistrate judge who has moved to the courthouse and
2-62 take all other actions to implement the objective and intent of
2-63 this subsection considering the circumstances in the county court
2-64 system. Unless the council of judges provides otherwise, criminal
2-65 cases may be assigned under Section 75.015 to the magistrate judge
2-66 without the consent of the magistrate judge, notwithstanding the
2-67 requirements for written consent to assignment and filing the
2-68 written consent to assignment with the local administrative judge
2-69 under Section 75.015].
3-1 SECTION 3. Subsection (r), Section 25.0732, Government Code,
3-2 is amended to read as follows:
3-3 (r) Sections 25.0006(b) and 25.0007 do not apply to County
3-4 Court at Law No. 2, 3, 4, [or] 5, 6, or 7 of El Paso County, Texas.
3-5 SECTION 4. Notwithstanding Section 25.0731, Government Code,
3-6 as amended by this Act:
3-7 (1) the County Court at Law No. 6 of El Paso County,
3-8 Texas, is created on October 1, 1998, or on an earlier date
3-9 determined by the commissioners court in an order entered in its
3-10 minutes; and
3-11 (2) the County Court at Law No. 7 of El Paso County,
3-12 Texas, is created on October 1, 1998, or on an earlier date
3-13 determined by the commissioners court in an order entered in its
3-14 minutes.
3-15 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
3-16 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
3-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-21 * * * * *