By:  Oliveira (Senate Sponsor - Wentworth)                        H.B. No. 1686
	(In the Senate - Received from the House April 21, 2005; 
April 22, 2005, read first time and referred to Committee on 
Jurisprudence; May 5, 2005, reported favorably by the following 
vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 5, 2005, sent to printer.)


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT


relating to the compensation of presiding judges of administrative 
judicial regions.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Sections 74.051(b) and (c), Government Code, are 
amended to read as follows:
	(b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), a presiding judge 
shall receive a salary not to exceed $33,000 [$23,000] a year.  The 
Texas Judicial Council shall set the salary biennially and, in 
arriving at the amount of the salary, shall consider whether the 
presiding judge is active in administrative duties, performs part 
time, or is a retired judge.  The salary set by the Texas Judicial 
Council shall be apportioned to each county in the region according 
to the population of the counties comprising the region and shall be 
paid through the county budget process.
	(c)  A presiding judge who is a retired or former district 
judge or a retired appellate judge and who presides over an 
administrative region with 30 or more district courts, statutory 
county courts, and retired and former judges named on the list 
maintained under Section 74.055 for the administrative region is 
entitled to an annual salary for each fiscal year as follows:
	Number of Courts and Judges     Salary                                         
30 to 49                  $35,000 [$25,000]             
50 to 69                  $40,000 [$30,000]             
70 to 89                  $45,000 [$35,000]             
90 or more                $50,000 [$40,000]             
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.                           



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