HBA-CBW H.B. 2300 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2300 By: Thompson Judicial Affairs 3/19/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE For many years, the state's creation of district courts has lagged behind the caseload of those courts. In response to this problem, counties have requested that the legislature create statutory county courts and increase the jurisdiction of those courts to attempt to handle the surplus caseloads of the district courts. Since 1991, there have been several bills passed providing funding to statutory county courts and attempting to ensure minimum salaries for judges. All of these bills relied on filing fees and court costs for funding. Last session, state revenue was added to the funding generated by the fees and costs, but the constitutionality of the funding was questioned because the funding was not uniform in every statutory county court. Additional funding is needed from the state to pay for the cost of maintaining county courts. House Bill 2300 allows the state to retain fees, requires all counties with statutory county courts to charge fees, and requires the state to provide each county with an amount equal to $1,000 less than a district judge's state salary for each statutory court judge. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2300 amends the Government Code to require a statutory court judge to be paid a total of $1,000 less than the total annual salary received by the district judge in the county at any time, rather than on August 31, 1999. The bill removes the salary payment exemption for a statutory county court judge who engages in the private practice of law or whose additional court fees and costs are not collected. The bill deletes existing text stating that the commissioners court sets the salary of each statutory county court judge who engages in the private practice of law or whose additional court fees and costs are not collected. The bill deletes provisions stating that a county is not required to meet the salary requirements for a particular court under certain conditions (Sec. 25.0005). The bill requires the state to annually compensate each county in an amount that is $1,000 less than the state salary provided for a district judge under the General Appropriations Act, rather than $35,000 for each statutory county court judge in the county who does not engage in the private practice of law. The bill deletes provisions relating to the requirement that counties remit additional fees to the comptroller (Sec. 51.702). The bill deletes the provision that requires that of each $35,000 paid to a county, $30,000 is required to be paid from funds appropriated from the judicial fund, and $5,000 is required to be paid from funds appropriated from the general revenue fund (Sec. 25.0015). The bill deletes existing text relating to additional court fees and costs collected under certain conditions (Sec. 51.320). The bill deletes the provision that at least 40 percent of the functions that the county judge performs need to be judicial functions to entitle the judge to a supplemental annual salary (Sec. 26.006). The bill prohibits a statutory county court judge from engaging in the private practice of law (Sec. 25.0019). The bill deletes provisions prohibiting judges of a county court at law from engaging in the private practice of law. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. The bill provides that provisions relating to judge's salary, state contribution, and judicial functions of a judge take effect October 1, 2001.