1-1     By:  Hilderbran (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth)          H.B. No. 2136
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 1999;
 1-3     April 27, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Intergovernmental Relations; May 7, 1999, reported adversely, with
 1-5     favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays
 1-6     0; May 7, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 2136                 By:  Lindsay
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the creation of the County Court at Law of Kendall
1-11     County.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 25, Government Code, is
1-14     amended by adding Sections 25.1321 and 25.1322 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 25.1321.  KENDALL COUNTY.  Kendall County has one
1-16     statutory county court, the County Court at Law of Kendall County.
1-17           Sec. 25.1322.  KENDALL COUNTY COURT AT LAW PROVISIONS.
1-18     (a)  In addition to the jurisdiction provided by Section 25.0003
1-19     and other law, and except as limited by Subsection (b), a county
1-20     court at law of Kendall County has concurrent jurisdiction with the
1-21     district court.
1-22           (b)  A county court at law does not have jurisdiction of:
1-23                 (1)  felony cases, except as otherwise provided by law;
1-24                 (2)  misdemeanors involving official misconduct; or
1-25                 (3)  contested elections.
1-26           (c)  A county court at law may not issue a writ of habeas
1-27     corpus in a felony case over which the court has jurisdiction.
1-28           (d)  The commissioners court by order entered of record shall
1-29     set at least two terms of court each year for each county court at
1-30     law.
1-31           (e)  A judge of a county court at law may not engage in the
1-32     private practice of law.
1-33           (f)  A special judge of a county court at law may be
1-34     appointed or elected in the manner provided by law for the
1-35     appointment or election of a special county judge.
1-36           (g)  The district clerk serves as the clerk of a county court
1-37     at law in matters in which the county court at law has concurrent
1-38     jurisdiction with the district court.  The county clerk serves as
1-39     the clerk of a county court at law in all other matters.  The
1-40     district clerk shall establish a separate docket for each county
1-41     court at law.
1-42           (h)  A judge of a county court at law shall be paid an annual
1-43     salary that is at least equal to the amount that is $4,000 less
1-44     than the total annual salary, including supplements, received by a
1-45     district judge in the county.
1-46           (i)  The county sheriff shall, in person or by deputy, attend
1-47     a county court at law as required by the judge.
1-48           (j)  On request of a county court at law judge, jurors
1-49     regularly impaneled for a week by the district courts may be made
1-50     available and shall serve for the week in the county court at law.
1-51           (k)  If any cause or proceeding is lodged with the district
1-52     clerk and the district clerk files, dockets, or assigns the cause
1-53     or proceeding in or to a county court at law and the county court
1-54     at law does not have subject matter jurisdiction over the cause or
1-55     proceeding, then the filing, docketing, or assignment of the cause
1-56     or proceeding in or to a county court at law is considered a
1-57     clerical error and that clerical error shall be corrected by a
1-58     judgment or order nunc pro tunc.  The cause or proceeding is
1-59     considered filed, docketed, or assigned to the district court of
1-60     the local administrative judge in the first instance rather than to
1-61     a county court at law of Kendall County.  The judge of a county
1-62     court at law of Kendall County who acts in the cause or proceeding
1-63     is considered assigned to the district court of the local
1-64     administrative judge for that purpose and has all the powers of the
 2-1     judge of that district court under the assignment.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  Notwithstanding Section 25.1321, Government Code,
 2-3     as added by this Act, the County Court at Law of Kendall County is
 2-4     created January 1, 2001, or on an earlier date determined by the
 2-5     commissioners court by an order entered in its minutes.
 2-6           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-7     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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