1-1 By: Duncan S.B. No. 412
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 5, 1999; February 8, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 April 15, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 3,
1-5 Nays 0; April 15, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the abolition of the Judicial Districts Board.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Subdivision (1), Section 24.942, Government Code,
1-11 is amended to read as follows:
1-12 (1) "Board" means the Legislative Redistricting
1-13 [Judicial Districts] Board established by Section 28, Article III,
1-14 [Article V, Section 7a, of the] Texas Constitution.
1-15 SECTION 2. Sections 24.943 and 24.944, Government Code, are
1-16 amended to read as follows:
1-17 Sec. 24.943. OFFICIAL DUTY. Service on the board is an
1-18 official duty of each of the officers who serves on the board under
1-19 Section 28, Article III, [named in Article V, Section 7a, of the]
1-20 Texas Constitution.
1-21 Sec. 24.944. DUTIES. The board shall reapportion the
1-22 judicial districts authorized by Article V, Section 7, of the Texas
1-23 Constitution by statewide reapportionment of the districts [and, as
1-24 the necessity for additional reapportionment appears, by
1-25 redesignating, in one or more reapportionment orders, the county or
1-26 counties that comprise the specific judicial districts affected by
1-27 those reapportionment orders]. [The board shall investigate from
1-28 time to time the necessity of and appropriate locations for new
1-29 judicial districts and shall advise the legislature of its
1-30 findings. The board shall inform itself on all matters bearing on
1-31 its duties.]
1-32 SECTION 3. Subsection (e), Section 24.945, Government Code,
1-33 is amended to read as follows:
1-34 (e) The legislature[, the Judicial Districts Board,] or the
1-35 board [Legislative Redistricting Board] may not redistrict the
1-36 judicial districts to provide for any judicial district smaller in
1-37 size than an entire county except as provided by this subsection.
1-38 Judicial districts smaller in size than the entire county may be
1-39 created subsequent to a general election in which a majority of the
1-40 persons voting on the proposition adopt the proposition "to allow
1-41 the division of ____________________ County into judicial districts
1-42 composed of parts of ____________________ County." A
1-43 redistricting plan may not be proposed or adopted by the
1-44 legislature[, the Judicial Districts Board,] or the board
1-45 [Legislative Redistricting Board] in anticipation of a future
1-46 action by the voters of any county.
1-47 SECTION 4. Section 24.946, Government Code, is amended to
1-48 read as follows:
1-49 Sec. 24.946. PROCEDURE. (a) The board shall meet as
1-50 required by Section 7a, Article V, Texas Constitution [in
1-51 accordance with its own rules]. [The board shall meet at least
1-52 once in each interim between regular sessions of the legislature
1-53 and shall exercise its reapportionment powers only in the interims
1-54 between regular legislative sessions.] Meetings of the board are
1-55 [shall be] subject to the provisions of Chapter 551, except as
1-56 otherwise provided by this subchapter. [A reapportionment may not
1-57 be ordered in the interim immediately following a regular session
1-58 of the legislature in which a valid and subsisting statewide
1-59 reapportionment of judicial districts is enacted by the
1-60 legislature. Unless the legislature enacts a statewide
1-61 reapportionment of the judicial districts following each federal
1-62 decennial census, the board shall convene not later than the first
1-63 Monday of June of the third year following the year in which the
1-64 federal decennial census is taken to make a statewide
2-1 reapportionment of the districts. The board shall complete its
2-2 work on the reapportionment and file its order with the secretary
2-3 of state not later than August 31 of the same year. If the
2-4 Judicial Districts Board fails to make a statewide apportionment by
2-5 that date, the Legislative Redistricting Board established by
2-6 Article III, Section 28, of the Texas Constitution shall make a
2-7 statewide reapportionment of the judicial districts not later than
2-8 the 150th day after the final day for the Judicial Districts Board
2-9 to make the reapportionment, and that apportionment takes effect as
2-10 provided by Sections 24.948 and 24.949.]
2-11 (b) The board shall adopt its own rules of procedure and has
2-12 the power to make investigations, hold hearings, compel by subpoena
2-13 the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of
2-14 records, administer oaths, and do all things necessary in its
2-15 judgment to carry out its duties.
2-16 (c) On the request of the presiding officer of the board
2-17 [chairman], a peace officer shall serve a subpoena issued by the
2-18 board. The officer shall serve the subpoena in the same manner as
2-19 a subpoena issued by a district court is served. If the person to
2-20 whom a subpoena is directed fails to comply, the board may bring
2-21 suit in the district court to enforce the subpoena. If the court
2-22 determines that good cause exists for the issuance of the subpoena,
2-23 the court shall order compliance. The court may modify the
2-24 requirements of a subpoena that the court determines are
2-25 unreasonable. Failure to comply with the order of the district
2-26 court is punishable as contempt.
2-27 (d) The board may provide for the compensation of subpoenaed
2-28 witnesses. The amount of compensation may not exceed the amount
2-29 paid to a witness subpoenaed by a district court in a civil
2-30 proceeding.
2-31 SECTION 5. Section 24.947, Government Code, is repealed.
2-32 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect January 1, 2000, but only
2-33 if the constitutional amendment proposed by the 76th Legislature,
2-34 Regular Session, 1999, to abolish the Judicial Districts Board, is
2-35 approved by the voters. If that proposed constitutional amendment
2-36 is not approved by the voters, this Act has no effect.
2-37 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
2-38 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-39 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-40 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-41 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-42 * * * * *