By: Duncan S.B. No. 412
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the abolition of the Judicial Districts Board.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subdivison (1), Section 24.942, Government Code,
1-4 is amended to read as follows:
1-5 (1) "Board" means the Legislative Redistricting
1-6 [Judicial Districts] Board established by Section 28, Article III,
1-7 [Article V, Section 7a, of the] Texas Constitution.
1-8 SECTION 2. Sections 24.943 and 24.944, Government Code, are
1-9 amended to read as follows:
1-10 Sec. 24.943. OFFICIAL DUTY. Service on the board is an
1-11 official duty of each of the officers who serves on the board under
1-12 Section 28, Article III, [named in Article V, Section 7a, of the]
1-13 Texas Constitution.
1-14 Sec. 24.944. DUTIES. The board shall reapportion the
1-15 judicial districts authorized by Article V, Section 7, of the Texas
1-16 Constitution by statewide reapportionment of the districts [and, as
1-17 the necessity for additional reapportionment appears, by
1-18 redesignating, in one or more reapportionment orders, the county or
1-19 counties that comprise the specific judicial districts affected by
1-20 those reapportionment orders]. [The board shall investigate from
1-21 time to time the necessity of and appropriate locations for new
1-22 judicial districts and shall advise the legislature of its
1-23 findings. The board shall inform itself on all matters bearing on
1-24 its duties.]
2-1 SECTION 3. Subsection (e), Section 24.945, Government Code,
2-2 is amended to read as follows:
2-3 (e) The legislature[, the Judicial Districts Board,] or the
2-4 board [Legislative Redistricting Board] may not redistrict the
2-5 judicial districts to provide for any judicial district smaller in
2-6 size than an entire county except as provided by this subsection.
2-7 Judicial districts smaller in size than the entire county may be
2-8 created subsequent to a general election in which a majority of the
2-9 persons voting on the proposition adopt the proposition "to allow
2-10 the division of ____________________ County into judicial districts
2-11 composed of parts of ____________________ County." A
2-12 redistricting plan may not be proposed or adopted by the
2-13 legislature[, the Judicial Districts Board,] or the board
2-14 [Legislative Redistricting Board] in anticipation of a future
2-15 action by the voters of any county.
2-16 SECTION 4. Section 24.946, Government Code, is amended to
2-17 read as follows:
2-18 Sec. 24.946. PROCEDURE. (a) The board shall meet as
2-19 required by Section 7a, Article V, Texas Constitution [in
2-20 accordance with its own rules]. [The board shall meet at least
2-21 once in each interim between regular sessions of the legislature
2-22 and shall exercise its reapportionment powers only in the interims
2-23 between regular legislative sessions.] Meetings of the board are
2-24 [shall be] subject to the provisions of Chapter 551, except as
2-25 otherwise provided by this subchapter. [A reapportionment may not
2-26 be ordered in the interim immediately following a regular session
3-1 of the legislature in which a valid and subsisting statewide
3-2 reapportionment of judicial districts is enacted by the
3-3 legislature. Unless the legislature enacts a statewide
3-4 reapportionment of the judicial districts following each federal
3-5 decennial census, the board shall convene not later than the first
3-6 Monday of June of the third year following the year in which the
3-7 federal decennial census is taken to make a statewide
3-8 reapportionment of the districts. The board shall complete its
3-9 work on the reapportionment and file its order with the secretary
3-10 of state not later than August 31 of the same year. If the
3-11 Judicial Districts Board fails to make a statewide apportionment by
3-12 that date, the Legislative Redistricting Board established by
3-13 Article III, Section 28, of the Texas Constitution shall make a
3-14 statewide reapportionment of the judicial districts not later than
3-15 the 150th day after the final day for the Judicial Districts Board
3-16 to make the reapportionment, and that apportionment takes effect as
3-17 provided by Sections 24.948 and 24.949.]
3-18 (b) The board shall adopt its own rules of procedure and has
3-19 the power to make investigations, hold hearings, compel by subpoena
3-20 the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of
3-21 records, administer oaths, and do all things necessary in its
3-22 judgment to carry out its duties.
3-23 (c) On the request of the presiding officer of the board
3-24 [chairman], a peace officer shall serve a subpoena issued by the
3-25 board. The officer shall serve the subpoena in the same manner as
3-26 a subpoena issued by a district court is served. If the person to
4-1 whom a subpoena is directed fails to comply, the board may bring
4-2 suit in the district court to enforce the subpoena. If the court
4-3 determines that good cause exists for the issuance of the subpoena,
4-4 the court shall order compliance. The court may modify the
4-5 requirements of a subpoena that the court determines are
4-6 unreasonable. Failure to comply with the order of the district
4-7 court is punishable as contempt.
4-8 (d) The board may provide for the compensation of subpoenaed
4-9 witnesses. The amount of compensation may not exceed the amount
4-10 paid to a witness subpoenaed by a district court in a civil
4-11 proceeding.
4-12 SECTION 5. Section 24.947, Government Code, is repealed.
4-13 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect January 1, 2000, but only
4-14 if the constitutional amendment proposed by the 76th Legislature,
4-15 Regular Session, 1999, to abolish the Judicial Districts Board, is
4-16 approved by the voters. If that proposed constitutional amendment
4-17 is not approved by the voters, this Act has no effect.
4-18 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.