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.