1-1     By:  Thompson (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth)            H.B. No. 1605
 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 15, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 3, Nays 0; April 15, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the transfer of cases by statutory probate courts.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 25, Government Code, is
1-11     amended by adding Section 25.00221 to read as follows:
1-12           Sec. 25.00221.  TRANSFER OF CASES.  (a)  The judge of a
1-13     statutory probate court may transfer a cause of action pending in
1-14     that court to another statutory probate court in the same county
1-15     that has jurisdiction over the cause of action that is transferred.
1-16           (b)  If the judge of a statutory probate court that has
1-17     jurisdiction over a cause of action appertaining to or incident to
1-18     an estate pending in the statutory probate court determines that
1-19     the court no longer has jurisdiction over the cause of action, the
1-20     judge may transfer that cause of action to a district court, county
1-21     court, statutory county court, or justice court located in the same
1-22     county that has jurisdiction over the cause of action that is
1-23     transferred.
1-24           (c)  When a cause of action is transferred from a statutory
1-25     probate court to another court as provided by Subsection (a) or
1-26     (b), all processes, writs, bonds, recognizances, or other
1-27     obligations issued from the statutory probate court are returnable
1-28     to the court to which the cause of action is transferred as if
1-29     originally issued by that court.  The obligees in all bonds and
1-30     recognizances taken in and for the statutory probate court, and all
1-31     witnesses summoned to appear in the statutory probate court, are
1-32     required to appear before the court to which the cause of action is
1-33     transferred as if originally required to appear before the court to
1-34     which the transfer is made.
1-35           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-36           (b)  Section 25.00221,  Government Code, as added by this
1-37     Act, applies only to a cause of action filed on or after the
1-38     effective date of this Act.
1-39           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-40     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-41     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-42     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-43     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-44                                  * * * * *