1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the jurisdiction of municipal courts.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Sections 29.003(a) and (b), Government Code, are
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  A municipal court, including a municipal court of
 1-7     record, shall have exclusive original jurisdiction within the
 1-8     municipality's territorial limits and property owned by the
 1-9     municipality located in the municipality's  extraterritorial
1-10     jurisdiction [of the municipality] in all criminal cases that:
1-11                 (1)  arise under the ordinances of the municipality;
1-12     and
1-13                 (2)  are punishable by a fine not to exceed:
1-14                       (A)  $2,000 in all cases arising under municipal
1-15     ordinances that govern fire safety, zoning, or public health and
1-16     sanitation, including dumping of refuse; or
1-17                       (B)  $500 in all other cases arising under a
1-18     municipal ordinance.
1-19           (b)  The municipal court has concurrent jurisdiction with the
1-20     justice court of a precinct in which the municipality is located in
1-21     all criminal cases arising under state law that:
1-22                 (1)  arise within the municipality's territorial limits
1-23     or property owned by the municipality located in the municipality's
1-24     extraterritorial jurisdiction [of the municipality] and are
 2-1     punishable only by a fine, as defined in Subsection (c) [of this
 2-2     section]; or
 2-3                 (2)  arise under Chapter 106, Alcoholic Beverage Code,
 2-4     and do not include confinement as an authorized sanction.
 2-5           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-10     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-11     passage, and it is so enacted.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 323 was passed by the House on May 4,
         1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 144, Nays 0, 2 present, not
         voting.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 323 was passed by the Senate on May
         24, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
         APPROVED:  _____________________
                            Date
                    _____________________
                          Governor