1-1     By:  Harris                                            S.B. No. 788
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 2, 1999; March 3, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
 1-4     March 25, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 3, Nays 0; March 25, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 788                   By:  Harris
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to claims against, including motions for the recusal or
1-11     disqualification of, certain judges.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Chapter 30, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
1-14     amended by adding Sections 30.016 and 30.017 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 30.016.  RECUSAL OR DISQUALIFICATION OF CERTAIN JUDGES.
1-16     (a)  In this section, "tertiary recusal motion" means a third or
1-17     subsequent motion for recusal or disqualification filed against a
1-18     district court, statutory probate court, or statutory county court
1-19     judge by the same party in a case.
1-20           (b)  A judge who declines recusal after a tertiary recusal
1-21     motion is filed shall comply with applicable rules of procedure for
1-22     recusal and disqualification except that the judge shall continue
1-23     to:
1-24                 (1)  preside over the case;
1-25                 (2)  sign orders in the case; and
1-26                 (3)  move the case to final disposition as though a
1-27     tertiary recusal motion had not been filed.
1-28           (c)  A judge hearing a tertiary recusal motion against
1-29     another judge who denies the motion shall award reasonable and
1-30     necessary attorney's fees and costs to the party opposing the
1-31     motion.  The party making the motion and the attorney for the party
1-32     are jointly and severally liable for the award of fees and costs.
1-33     The fees and costs must be paid before the 31st day after the date
1-34     the order denying the tertiary recusal motion is rendered, unless
1-35     the order is properly superseded.
1-36           (d)  The denial of a tertiary recusal motion is only
1-37     reviewable on appeal from final judgment.
1-38           (e)  If a tertiary recusal motion is finally sustained, the
1-39     new judge for the case shall vacate all orders signed by the
1-40     sitting judge during the pendency of the tertiary recusal motion.
1-41           Sec. 30.017.  CLAIMS AGAINST CERTAIN JUDGES.  (a)  A claim
1-42     against a district court, statutory probate court, or statutory
1-43     county court judge that is added to a case pending in the court to
1-44     which the judge was elected or appointed:
1-45                 (1)  must be made under oath;
1-46                 (2)  may not be based solely on the rulings in the
1-47     pending case but must plead specific facts supporting each element
1-48     of the claim in addition to the rulings in the pending case; and
1-49                 (3)  is automatically severed from the case.
1-50           (b)  The clerk of the court shall assign the claim a new
1-51     cause number, and the party making the claim shall pay the filing
1-52     fees.
1-53           (c)  The presiding judge of the administrative region or the
1-54     presiding judge of the statutory probate courts shall assign the
1-55     severed claim to a different judge.  The judge shall dismiss the
1-56     claim if the claim does not satisfy the requirements of Subsection
1-57     (a)(1) or (2).
1-58           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-59     applies to all cases:
1-60                 (1)  filed on or after the effective date of this Act;
1-61     or
1-62                 (2)  pending on the effective date of this Act and in
1-63     which the trial, or any new trial or retrial following motion,
1-64     appeal, or otherwise, begins on or after that date.
 2-1           (b)  In a case filed before the effective date of this Act, a
 2-2     trial, new trial, or retrial that is in progress on the effective
 2-3     date of this Act is governed by the applicable law in effect
 2-4     immediately before that date, and that law is continued in effect
 2-5     for that purpose.
 2-6           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-7     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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