By Puente                                             H.B. No. 3499
         76R8446 JMC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to associate judges appointed by the district courts of
 1-3     Bexar County.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 54, Government Code, is amended by adding
 1-6     Subchapter P to read as follows:
 1-7               SUBCHAPTER P.  ASSOCIATE JUDGES IN BEXAR COUNTY
 1-8           Sec. 54.951.  APPLICATION.  To the extent that this
 1-9     subchapter conflicts with Subchapter A, Chapter 201, Family Code,
1-10     this subchapter controls.
1-11           Sec. 54.952.  CASES THAT MAY BE REFERRED.  (a) In addition to
1-12     the cases that may be referred under Section 201.005, Family Code,
1-13     a judge of a district court in Bexar County may refer to an
1-14     associate judge in Bexar County any case or portion of a case
1-15     brought under the civil jurisdiction of the appointing court.
1-16           (b)  An associate judge may preside over a trial on the
1-17     merits of a case brought under the civil jurisdiction of the
1-18     appointing court, whether or not the trial is before a jury.
1-19           Sec. 54.953.  COMPENSATION.  (a) An associate judge in Bexar
1-20     County appointed under Section 201.001, Family Code, shall be paid
1-21     an annual salary determined by the Commissioners Court of Bexar
1-22     County that is at least 85 percent but not more than 90 percent of
1-23     the annual salary paid a district judge in Bexar County as set by
1-24     the General Appropriations Act.
 2-1           (b)  The associate judge's salary shall be paid from the
 2-2     county fund available for payment of officers' salaries.
 2-3           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-4           SECTION 3.  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.