BILL ANALYSIS
By: McCall
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Child support associate judges and child protection associate judges have a higher number of security incidents than any other group of judges and therefore need court security. However, current statute under which funds are collected for courthouse security does not explicitly state that the funds may be expended to provide security for associate judges. Consequently, there is some uncertainty as to whether courthouse security funds may be used to provide security for associate judges.
HB 1380 modifies the Code of Criminal Procedure seeks to change this by expressly stating that courthouse security funds may be used to provide security for associate judges, and to require that the local administrative judges report security incidents to Office of Court Administration.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
H.B. 1380 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to identify associate judges and other limited-purpose judicial actors as eligible for the allocation of courthouse security funds. The bill also requires that local administrative judges provide a written report of security incidents to the Office of Court Administration not more than three days after the incident occurs.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2007.