76R4908 MLS-F
By Brown of Brazos, et al. H.B. No. 323
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 323:
By Garcia C.S.H.B. No. 323
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
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.