1-1 By: Goodman (Senate Sponsor - Harris) H.B. No. 869
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House March 29, 1999;
1-3 March 30, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Jurisprudence; April 28, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0;
1-6 April 28, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 869 By: Harris
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to authorizing the appointment of certain visiting
1-11 associate judges and to the appointment of criminal law magistrates
1-12 in Tarrant County.
1-13 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 201, Family Code, is
1-15 amended by adding Section 201.018 to read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 201.018. VISITING ASSOCIATE JUDGE. (a) If an
1-17 associate judge appointed under this subchapter is temporarily
1-18 unable to perform the judge's official duties because of absence or
1-19 illness, injury, or other disability, a judge of a court having
1-20 jurisdiction of a suit under this title or Title 1 or 4 may appoint
1-21 a visiting associate judge to perform the duties of the associate
1-22 judge during the period of the associate judge's absence or
1-23 disability if the commissioners court of a county in which the
1-24 court has jurisdiction authorizes the employment of a visiting
1-25 associate judge.
1-26 (b) To be eligible for appointment under this section, a
1-27 person must have served as an associate judge for at least six
1-28 years.
1-29 (c) Sections 201.001 through 201.017 apply to a visiting
1-30 associate judge appointed under this section.
1-31 (d) This section does not apply to a master appointed under
1-32 Subchapter B.
1-33 SECTION 2. Section 54.651(a), Government Code, is amended to
1-34 read as follows:
1-35 (a) The judges of the district courts of Tarrant County that
1-36 give preference to criminal cases and[,] the judges of the criminal
1-37 district courts of Tarrant County, [and the judges of the county
1-38 criminal courts of Tarrant County,] with the consent and approval
1-39 of the Commissioners Court of Tarrant County, shall jointly appoint
1-40 the number of magistrates set by the commissioners court to perform
1-41 the duties authorized by this subchapter.
1-42 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-43 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-44 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-45 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-46 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-47 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-48 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-49 * * * * *