By F. Brown H.B. No. 323
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the jurisdiction of municipal courts for offenses
1-3 committed on property owned by a municipality and located in the
1-4 municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 29.003(a), Texas Government Code, is
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (a) A municipal court, including a municipal court of
1-9 record, shall have exclusive original jurisdiction within the
1-10 territorial limits of the municipality and within property owned by
1-11 the municipality located in the municipality's extraterritorial
1-12 jurisdiction in all criminal cases that:
1-13 (1) arise under the ordinances of the municipality;
1-14 and
1-15 (2) are punishable by a fine not to exceed:
1-16 (A) $2,000 in all cases arising under municipal
1-17 ordinances that govern fire safety, zoning, or public health and
1-18 sanitation, including dumping of refuse; or
1-19 (B) $500 in all other cases arising under a
1-20 municipal ordinance.
1-21 SECTION 2. Section 29.003(b), Texas Government Code, is
2-1 amended to read as follows:
2-2 (b) The municipal court has concurrent jurisdiction with the
2-3 justice court of a precinct in which the municipality is located in
2-4 all criminal cases arising under state law that:
2-5 (1) arise within the territorial limits of the
2-6 municipality or on property owned by the municipality located
2-7 within its extraterritorial jurisdiction and are punishable only by
2-8 a fine, as defined in Subsection (c) of this section; or
2-9 (2) arise under Chapter 106, Alcoholic Beverage Code,
2-10 and do not include confinement as an authorized sanction.
2-11 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-16 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-17 passage, and it is so enacted.