| TO: | Honorable Will Hartnett, Chair, House Committee on Judiciary |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB1625 by Puente (Relating to the compensation of district judges in Bexar County.), As Introduced |
The bill would amend Section 32.015(a), Government Code, to remove the current salary cap that applies specifically to the district judges in Bexar County and would repeal Section 32.015(d) to except Bexar County from the salary cap listed in Section 659.012, Government Code for district judges. The bill would take effect September 1, 2005.
Under current statute, the combined yearly salary paid to a judicial district judge in Bexar County by the state and county cannot exceed $1,000 less than the combined yearly salary of a justice of the court of appeals in the court of appeals district in which Bexar County is located. Current statute also provides that a district judge's salary from a county and the state combined cannot exceed $2,000 less than the salary of a justice of the supreme court.
The bill would allow the Bexar County commissioners court to determine the amount of the county's portion of the judicial district judge's salary without any cap.
The state's portion of a district court judge's salary is $101,700, plus benefits totaling $27,959. The state's portion would not change, although the state would have to pay, under existing statute, a portion of the county's part of the salary to a visiting district judge to Bexar County.
Bexar County currently pays each district judge a supplemental salary of $9,300 annually. The fiscal impact to Bexar County would depend on the amount of the county's portion of the judicial district judge's pay established by the commissioners court.
| Source Agencies: | 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, DLBa
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