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 * * * * *