1-1 By: Brown of Brazos, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Ogden) H.B. No. 323
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1999;
1-3 May 6, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; May 13, 1999, reported favorably by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 13, 1999, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to the jurisdiction of municipal courts.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Sections 29.003(a) and (b), Government Code, are
1-12 amended to read as follows:
1-13 (a) A municipal court, including a municipal court of
1-14 record, shall have exclusive original jurisdiction within the
1-15 municipality's territorial limits and property owned by the
1-16 municipality located in the municipality's extraterritorial
1-17 jurisdiction [of the municipality] in all criminal cases that:
1-18 (1) arise under the ordinances of the municipality;
1-19 and
1-20 (2) are punishable by a fine not to exceed:
1-21 (A) $2,000 in all cases arising under municipal
1-22 ordinances that govern fire safety, zoning, or public health and
1-23 sanitation, including dumping of refuse; or
1-24 (B) $500 in all other cases arising under a
1-25 municipal ordinance.
1-26 (b) The municipal court has concurrent jurisdiction with the
1-27 justice court of a precinct in which the municipality is located in
1-28 all criminal cases arising under state law that:
1-29 (1) arise within the municipality's territorial limits
1-30 or property owned by the municipality located in the municipality's
1-31 extraterritorial jurisdiction [of the municipality] and are
1-32 punishable only by a fine, as defined in Subsection (c) [of this
1-33 section]; or
1-34 (2) arise under Chapter 106, Alcoholic Beverage Code,
1-35 and do not include confinement as an authorized sanction.
1-36 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-37 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-38 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-39 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-40 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-41 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-42 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-43 * * * * *