By Nixon H.B. No. 460
76R2818 MLS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the assignment of certain retired or former judges as
1-3 visiting judges.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 74.055(c), (d), and (e), Government
1-6 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-7 (c) To be eligible to be named on the list, a retired or
1-8 former judge must:
1-9 (1) have served as a judge for at least eight years
1-10 [48 months] in a district, statutory probate, statutory county, or
1-11 appellate court;
1-12 (2) have developed substantial experience in the
1-13 judge's area of specialty;
1-14 (3) not have been removed from office;
1-15 (4) certify under oath to the presiding judge, on a
1-16 form prescribed by the state board of regional judges, that the
1-17 judge did not resign from office after having received notice that
1-18 formal proceedings by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct had
1-19 been instituted as provided in Section 33.022 and before the final
1-20 disposition of the proceedings;
1-21 (5) annually demonstrate that the judge has completed
1-22 in the past calendar year the educational requirements for active
1-23 district, statutory probate, and statutory county court judges; and
1-24 (6) certify to the presiding judge a willingness not
2-1 to appear and plead as an attorney in any court in this state for a
2-2 period of two years.
2-3 (d) A former district judge who has served as judge of more
2-4 than one district court is not required to meet the eight years [48
2-5 months] of service requirement in Subsection (c)(1) to be eligible
2-6 to be named on the list.
2-7 (e) For purposes of Subsection (c)(1), a year [month] of
2-8 service is calculated as a calendar year [month] or a portion of a
2-9 calendar year [month] in which a judge was authorized by election
2-10 or appointment by the governor to preside.
2-11 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-12 applies only to assignments of retired or former judges made under
2-13 Section 74.055, Government Code, as amended by this Act, on or
2-14 after that date. An assignment of a retired or former judge made
2-15 under Section 74.055, Government Code, before the effective date of
2-16 this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the
2-17 assignment was made, and that law is continued in effect for that
2-18 purpose.
2-19 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.