76R13509 JMC-D                           
         By Thompson                                           H.B. No. 1123
         Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1123:
         By Deshotel                                       C.S.H.B. No. 1123
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the salaries of certain statutory county court judges.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 25.0005(e), Government Code, is amended
 1-5     to read as follows:
 1-6           (e)  A county is not required to meet the salary requirements
 1-7     of Subsection (a) for a particular court if:
 1-8                 (1)  not later than September 1 of the year in which
 1-9     the county initially begins collecting fees and costs under Section
1-10     51.702, the county increases the salary of each statutory county
1-11     court judge in the county to an amount that is at least:
1-12                       (A)  $24,000 [$20,000] more than the salary the
1-13     judge was entitled to on May 1 of that year, if the county
1-14     initially begins collecting fees and costs under Section 51.702
1-15     before January 1, 1998, and is also at least $24,000 more than the
1-16     salary the judge was entitled to on May 1, 1997; and
1-17                       (B)  $28,000 [$24,000] more than the salary the
1-18     judge was entitled to on May 1 of that year if the county initially
1-19     begins collecting fees and costs under Section 51.702 on or after
1-20     January 1, 1998;
1-21                 (2)  the county pays at least the salary required by
1-22     Subdivision (1);
1-23                 (3)  the county collects the fees and costs as provided
1-24     by Section 51.702;
 2-1                 (4)  the court has at least the jurisdiction provided
 2-2     by Section 25.0003; and
 2-3                 (5)  except as provided by Subsection (f), the county
 2-4     uses at least 50 percent of the amount the county receives each
 2-5     state fiscal year under Section 25.0016 for salaries for the
 2-6     statutory county court judges.
 2-7           SECTION 2.  Section 25.0015, Government Code, is amended to
 2-8     read as follows:
 2-9           Sec. 25.0015.  STATE CONTRIBUTION.  (a)  Beginning on the
2-10     first day of the state fiscal year, the state shall annually
2-11     compensate each county that collects the additional fees and costs
2-12     under Section 51.702 in an amount equal to $35,000 [$30,000] for
2-13     each statutory county court judge in the county who:
2-14                 (1)  does not engage in the private practice of law;
2-15                 (2)  presides over a court with at least the
2-16     jurisdiction provided by Section 25.0003; and
2-17                 (3)  except as provided by Section 25.0005(d), is not
2-18     excluded from the application of Section 25.0003 or Section
2-19     25.0005.
2-20           (b)  The amount shall be paid to the county's salary fund in
2-21     equal monthly installments.  Of each $35,000 paid a county, $30,000
2-22     shall be paid from funds appropriated from the judicial fund, and
2-23     $5,000 shall be paid from funds appropriated from the general
2-24     revenue fund.
2-25           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect October 1, 1999, and
2-26     applies only to a salary payment made on or after that date.  A
2-27     salary payment made before October 1, 1999, is governed by the law
 3-1     in effect on the date the salary payment was made, and that law is
 3-2     continued in effect for that purpose.
 3-3           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.