BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center H.B. 780
79R1721 QS-D By: Solis (Lucio)
AUTHOR'S/SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
H.B. 780 addresses the compensation of district court judges serving in Cameron County. Currently, the salaries of district court judges in Cameron County is limited to $2,000 less than that of a Texas Supreme Court justice and $1,000 less than that of an associate justice on the Thirteenth Court of Appeals.
Currently, district court judges in Cameron County are performing a significant amount of additional administrative work due to their swelling dockets and workloads. As the rapid population growth in Cameron County continues to strain the resources of the court system, the workload required of a district judge in Cameron County will be compounded.
While the workload of district judges in Cameron county has increased tremendously, their compensation has not changed. H.B. 780 allows the Cameron County commissioners court to adequately compensate the county's district judges by removing the current salary cap.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Sections 32.031(a) and (b), Government Code, as follows:
(a) Authorizes the Commissioners Court of Cameron County, notwithstanding Section 659.012, to pay the judges of the district courts having jurisdiction in the county an annual salary in an amount set by the commissioners court.
(b) Requires the salary to be paid in equal monthly installments from the county general fund or officers' salary fund. Deletes existing text relating to calculating the amount of the salary.
SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2005.