1-1     By:  Thompson (Senate Sponsor - Cain)                 H.B. No. 1123
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 1999;
 1-3     May 10, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by
 1-5     the following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to
 1-6     printer.)
 1-7                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-8                                   AN ACT
 1-9     relating to the salaries of certain statutory county court judges.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Sections 25.0005(a) and (e), Government Code, are
1-12     amended to read as follows:
1-13           (a)  A statutory county court judge, other than a statutory
1-14     county court judge who engages in the private practice of law or a
1-15     judge in whose court fees and costs under Section 51.702 are not
1-16     collected, shall be paid a total annual salary set by the
1-17     commissioners court at an amount that is at least equal to the
1-18     amount that is $1,000 [$4,000] less than the total annual salary
1-19     received by a district judge in the county on August 31, 1999.  A
1-20     district judge's or statutory county court judge's total annual
1-21     salary includes contributions and supplements, paid by the state or
1-22     a county, other than contributions received as compensation under
1-23     Section 74.051.
1-24           (e)  A county is not required to meet the salary requirements
1-25     of Subsection (a) for a particular court if:
1-26                 (1)  not later than September 1 of the year in which
1-27     the county initially begins collecting fees and costs under Section
1-28     51.702, the county increases the salary of each statutory county
1-29     court judge in the county to an amount that is at least $28,000[:]
1-30                       [(A)  $20,000] more than the salary the judge was
1-31     entitled to on May 1 of the [that] year[, if] the county initially
1-32     begins collecting fees and costs under Section 51.702 [before
1-33     January 1, 1998, and is also at least $24,000 more than the salary
1-34     the judge was entitled to on May 1, 1997; and]
1-35                       [(B)  $24,000 more than the salary the judge was
1-36     entitled to on May 1 of that year if the county initially begins
1-37     collecting fees and costs under Section 51.702 on or after January
1-38     1, 1998];
1-39                 (2)  the county pays at least the salary required by
1-40     Subdivision (1);
1-41                 (3)  the county collects the fees and costs as provided
1-42     by Section 51.702;
1-43                 (4)  the court has at least the jurisdiction provided
1-44     by Section 25.0003; and
1-45                 (5)  except as provided by Subsection (f), the county
1-46     uses at least 50 percent of the amount the county receives each
1-47     state fiscal year under Section 25.0016 for salaries for the
1-48     statutory county court judges.
1-49           SECTION 2.  Section 25.0015, Government Code, is amended to
1-50     read as follows:
1-51           Sec. 25.0015.  STATE CONTRIBUTION.  (a)  Beginning on the
1-52     first day of the state fiscal year, the state shall annually
1-53     compensate each county that collects the additional fees and costs
1-54     under Section 51.702 in an amount equal to $35,000 [$30,000] for
1-55     each statutory county court judge in the county who:
1-56                 (1)  does not engage in the private practice of law;
1-57                 (2)  presides over a court with at least the
1-58     jurisdiction provided by Section 25.0003; and
1-59                 (3)  except as provided by Section 25.0005(d), is not
1-60     excluded from the application of Section 25.0003 or Section
1-61     25.0005.
1-62           (b)  The amount shall be paid to the county's salary fund in
1-63     equal monthly installments.  Of each $35,000 paid a county, $30,000
1-64     shall be paid from funds appropriated from the judicial fund, and
 2-1     $5,000 shall be paid from funds appropriated from the general
 2-2     revenue fund.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect October 1, 1999, and
 2-4     applies only to a salary payment made on or after that date.  A
 2-5     salary payment made before October 1, 1999, is governed by the law
 2-6     in effect on the date the salary payment was made, and that law is
 2-7     continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-8           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-13                                  * * * * *