1-1 By: Thompson (Senate Sponsor - Lindsay) H.B. No. 3854
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1999;
1-3 May 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to the assignment and docketing of cases filed in Harris
1-10 County statutory probate courts.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 25.1034(j), Government Code, is amended
1-13 to read as follows:
1-14 (j) The county clerk shall keep a separate docket for each
1-15 court. The county clerk shall assign and docket at random [file]
1-16 matters and proceedings filed in the statutory probate courts
1-17 according to the following percentages: [in the manner provided by
1-18 this subsection. Cases ending in 3 or 4 shall be filed in the]
1-19 Probate Court No. 1 [4] of Harris County, 30 percent;[. Cases
1-20 ending in 0 or 5 shall be filed in the] Probate Court No. 2 [3] of
1-21 Harris County, 30 percent;[. All other cases ending in an odd
1-22 number shall be filed in the] Probate Court No. 3 [1] of Harris
1-23 County, 20 percent; and[. All other cases ending in an even number
1-24 shall be filed in the] Probate Court No. 4 [2] of Harris County,
1-25 20 percent. [The clerk shall file the cases in the courts in the
1-26 order in which the cases were deposited with the clerk for filing.]
1-27 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-28 applies only to assignment of cases filed in the statutory probate
1-29 courts of Harris County on or after that date. Cases filed in
1-30 those courts before the effective date of this Act are governed by
1-31 the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this
1-32 Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-33 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-34 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-35 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-36 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-37 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-38 * * * * *