78R3427 SLO-F

By:  Hill                                                         H.B. No. 496



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the payment of salaries, compensation, and expenses by 
counties comprising an administrative judicial region.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 74.043, Government Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read 
as follows:
	(c)  The [Except as provided by Section 74.051, the] 
salaries, compensation, and expenses shall be paid through the 
county budget process of each county in the region in proportion to 
the population of the counties comprising the region and in 
accordance with this section [and on certificates of approval of 
the presiding judge].
	(d)  Not later than the 60th day before the first day of the 
earliest of the fiscal years of the counties comprising an 
administrative region, the presiding judge of the region shall 
present to the commissioners courts of each county a proposed 
budget for the region's next fiscal year.  Each county shall pay its 
proportion of the salaries, compensation, and expenses included in 
the proposed budget if the amount of the proposed budget, minus any 
increase attributable to an increase in the actual cost of 
professional liability insurance for the presiding judge or the 
presiding judge's salary set under Section 74.051, is the same 
amount as or less than the budget of the previous fiscal year.
	(e)  A proposed budget for an administrative region that 
increases the region's budget over the previous fiscal year's 
budget, other than an increase attributable to an increase in the 
actual cost of professional liability insurance for the presiding 
judge or the presiding judge's salary set under Section 74.051, may 
be adopted only if the proposed budget is approved by resolution or 
order of the commissioners courts representing counties that 
collectively paid during the previous fiscal year at least 51 
percent of the region's salaries, compensation, and expenses not 
paid by state appropriations.
	SECTION 2.  Sections 74.061(e) and (g), Government Code, are 
amended to read as follows:
	(e)  When a district, statutory probate, constitutional 
county, or statutory county court judge is assigned under this 
chapter to a court outside his own district or county, the judge, in 
addition to all other compensation authorized by law, is entitled 
to receive his actual expenses in going to and returning from his 
assignment and his actual living expenses while in the performance 
of his duties under the assignment.  The county in which the duties 
are performed shall pay the expenses out of the general fund of the 
county [on accounts certified and approved by the presiding judge 
of the administrative region for that county].
	(g)  An active judge or justice of the supreme court, the 
court of criminal appeals, or a court of appeals assigned under this 
subchapter is not entitled to receive any additional compensation 
for serving as a visiting judge.  A court of appeals justice 
assigned to a court outside his own court of appeals district, a 
justice of the supreme court, or a judge of the court of criminal 
appeals is entitled to receive actual expenses in going to and 
returning from assignment and actual living expenses while in the 
performance of duties under the assignment.  The county in which the 
duties are performed shall pay the expenses out of the county's 
general fund [on accounts certified and approved by the presiding 
judge of the administrative region for that county].
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.