1-1     By:  Hope (Senate Sponsor - Bernsen)                  H.B. No. 2196
 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     Jurisprudence; May 11, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 11, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the duties of the district attorney for the 9th
 1-9     Judicial District.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 43.105, Government Code, is amended to
1-12     read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 43.105.  9TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT.  (a)  The voters of
1-14     Montgomery County elect a district attorney for the 9th Judicial
1-15     District who represents the state in that district court only in
1-16     that county.  The district attorney also acts as district attorney
1-17     for the 410th Judicial District in Montgomery County.
1-18           (b)  The district attorney shall represent the state in
1-19     misdemeanor criminal cases pending in the district and inferior
1-20     courts of the county.
1-21           (c)  The district attorney, with the approval of the
1-22     Commissioners Court of Montgomery County, may appoint the assistant
1-23     district attorneys, investigators, secretaries, and other employees
1-24     necessary to carry out the duties of the office of district
1-25     attorney.
1-26           (d) [(c)]  An investigator appointed by the district attorney
1-27     is not required to be a licensed attorney.
1-28           (e) [(d)]  The salary of each employee of the district
1-29     attorney is fixed by the Commissioners Court of Montgomery County.
1-30     The district attorney, assistant district attorneys, and
1-31     investigators employed by the district attorney may be allowed the
1-32     actual and necessary travel expenses incident to carrying out the
1-33     duties of the district attorney, subject to the approval of the
1-34     district attorney.  This subsection does not apply to the portion
1-35     of compensation or travel expenses paid by the state to the
1-36     district attorney or his employees.
1-37           (f) [(e)]  The salary and expenses of the employees of the
1-38     district attorney must be paid by the county at the regular pay
1-39     period of the county from the officers' salary fund of the county,
1-40     the general fund of the county, or both, at the discretion of the
1-41     commissioners court.
1-42           (g) [(f)]  The compensation paid by the county to an employee
1-43     of the district attorney or set for a position on the staff of the
1-44     district attorney may not be less than the compensation paid by the
1-45     county to the person or set for the position on June 14, 1973.
1-46           (h) [(g)]  The commissioners court may accept gifts and
1-47     grants from an individual, partnership, corporation, trust,
1-48     foundation, association, or political subdivision to finance
1-49     adequate and effective prosecution, crime prevention, or
1-50     rehabilitation programs in the county or district approved and
1-51     administered by the district attorney.
1-52           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect January 1, 2001.
1-53           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-54     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-55     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-56     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-57     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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