By Thompson                                           H.B. No. 1033
         77R1944 JRD-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring the Sunset Advisory Commission to study the
 1-3     district boundaries of the courts of appeals and other matters
 1-4     affecting the distribution of workload within and among those
 1-5     courts.
 1-6           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-7           SECTION 1.  (a)  The Sunset Advisory Commission shall study
 1-8     the district boundaries of the courts of appeals and recommend
 1-9     whether the boundaries should be redrawn to:
1-10                 (1)  equalize the workload among the courts of appeals;
1-11     or
1-12                 (2)  eliminate or reduce overlapping territorial
1-13     jurisdiction between the courts.
1-14           (b)  The commission must include in the study a review of the
1-15     workload of each court of appeals and shall recommend whether the
1-16     number of justices on a court should be increased or decreased to
1-17     improve efficiency at a court or to equalize the workload among the
1-18     justices of the courts.
1-19           (c)  In conducting the study, the commission is not bound by
1-20     Section 325.011, Government Code, or by the procedural provisions
1-21     of Chapter 325, Government Code, that apply to evaluating a state
1-22     agency scheduled to be abolished, but may:
1-23                 (1)  consider the factors that the commission considers
1-24     relevant to the study and to determining its recommendations; and
 2-1                 (2)  conduct public hearings regarding the study at the
 2-2     times that the commission considers advisable.
 2-3           (d)  The Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial
 2-4     System shall timely provide the commission with the information
 2-5     that the commission requests to conduct the study under this
 2-6     section.
 2-7           SECTION 2.  The Sunset Advisory Commission shall report the
 2-8     results of its study and its recommendations to the presiding
 2-9     officer of each house of the legislature, to the Senate
2-10     Jurisprudence Committee, and to the House Committee on Judicial
2-11     Affairs not later than November 1, 2002.
2-12           SECTION 3.  This Act expires June 1, 2003.
2-13           SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.