By:  Bernsen                                           S.B. No. 495
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the educational requirements for certain justices of
 1-3     the peace.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 27.005, Government Code,
 1-6     is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  For purposes of removal under Chapter 87, Local
 1-8     Government Code [Title 100, Revised Statutes], "incompetency" in
 1-9     the case of a justice of the peace [who is not a licensed attorney]
1-10     includes the failure of the justice to successfully complete:
1-11                 (1)  within one year after the date the justice [he] is
1-12     first elected, an 80-hour [a 40-hour] course in the performance of
1-13     the justice's [his] duties; and
1-14                 (2)  each following year, a 20-hour course.
1-15           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
1-16     applies only to a justice of the peace first elected on or after
1-17     that date.  A justice of the peace elected before the effective
1-18     date of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately
1-19     before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in
1-20     effect for that purpose.