By Gallego                                            H.B. No. 3418
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the administration of teleconferencing technology
 1-3     within the judiciary.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 73.003(e), Government Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (e)  At the discretion of its chief justice, [and with the
 1-8     consent of the parties or their attorneys,] a court to which a case
 1-9     is transferred may hear oral argument through the use of
1-10     teleconferencing technology as provided by Section 22.302.  The
1-11     court and the parties or their attorneys may participate in oral
1-12     argument from any location through the use of teleconferencing
1-13     technology.  The actual and necessary expenses of the court in
1-14     hearing an oral argument through the use of teleconferencing
1-15     technology shall be paid by the state from funds appropriated for
1-16     the transfer of case, as specified in Subsection (d).
1-17           SECTION 2.  Section 22.302(a), Government Code, is amended to
1-18     read as follows:
1-19           (a)  At the discretion of its chief justice or presiding
1-20     judge, [and with the consent of the parties or their attorneys,]
1-21     the supreme court, the court of criminal appeals, or a court of
1-22     appeals may order that oral argument be presented [hear oral
1-23     argument] through the use of teleconferencing technology.  The
1-24     court and the parties or their attorneys may participate in oral
 2-1     argument from any location through the use of teleconferencing
 2-2     technology.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-4           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.