BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center H.B. 964
79R4274 ATP-D By: Gattis (Ogden)
AUTHOR'S/SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Under current law, candidates in the primary for chief justice or justice of one of the fourteen courts of appeals are required to pay a filing fee of $2,500, if the county in which the court of appeals district is partly or wholly located has a population of more than 850,000. Candidates for appeals districts containing counties with smaller populations pay a lower filing fee. In another section of the Election Code, appellate judicial candidates for districts with the higher population bracket are also required to obtain petition signatures before their names can be placed on the primary ballot. As written, the population brackets provide that the higher fee and petition requirement do not include some important metropolitan districts, such as the district including Travis County. As proposed, H.B. 964 lowers the population threshold of districts for appellate justices who are required to pay the higher fee.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 172.024(a), Election Code, to provide that the filing fee for a candidate for nomination in the general election primary for a chief justice or a justice of a court of appeals that serves a court of appeals district in which a county with a population of more then 750,000, rather than 850,000, is wholly or partly located is $2,500.
SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 2005.