By: West S.B. No. 1471
 
  (Naishtat)
 
   
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the recusal or disqualification of a statutory probate
  judge or other judge authorized to hear probate, guardianship, or
  mental health matters, and the subsequent assignment of another
  judge.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subsections (d) and (h), Section 25.0022,
  Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (d)  The presiding judge shall:
               (1)  ensure the promulgation of local rules of
  administration in accordance with policies and guidelines set by
  the supreme court;
               (2)  advise local statutory probate court judges on
  case flow management practices and auxiliary court services;
               (3)  perform a duty of a local administrative statutory
  probate court judge if the local administrative judge does not
  perform that duty;
               (4)  appoint an assistant presiding judge of the
  statutory probate courts;
               (5)  call and preside over annual meetings of the
  judges of the statutory probate courts at a time and place in the
  state as designated by the presiding judge;
               (6)  call and convene other meetings of the judges of
  the statutory probate courts as considered necessary by the
  presiding judge to promote the orderly and efficient administration
  of justice in the statutory probate courts;
               (7)  study available statistics reflecting the
  condition of the dockets of the probate courts in the state to
  determine the need for the assignment of judges under this section;
               (8)  compare local rules of court to achieve uniformity
  of rules to the extent practical and consistent with local
  conditions; and
               (9)  assign or order the clerk who serves the statutory
  probate courts to randomly assign a judge or former or retired judge
  of a statutory probate court to hear a case under Section
  25.002201(a) or 25.00255, as applicable [the circumstances
  described by Section 25.002201(b)].
         (h)  Subject to Section 25.002201, a judge or a former or
  retired judge of a statutory probate court may be assigned by the
  presiding judge of the statutory probate courts to hold court in a
  statutory probate court, a county court, or any statutory court
  exercising probate jurisdiction when:
               (1)  a statutory probate judge requests assignment of
  another judge to the judge's court;
               (2)  a statutory probate judge is absent, disabled, or
  disqualified for any reason;
               (3)  a statutory probate judge is present or is trying
  cases as authorized by the constitution and laws of this state and
  the condition of the court's docket makes it necessary to appoint an
  additional judge;
               (4)  the office of a statutory probate judge is vacant;
               (5)  the presiding judge of an administrative judicial
  district requests the assignment of a statutory probate judge to
  hear a probate matter in a county court or statutory county court;
               (6)  the statutory probate [presiding] judge is [of the
  administrative judicial district fails to timely assign a judge to
  replace a] recused or disqualified [statutory probate court judge]
  as described by Section 25.002201(a) [Section 25.002201(b)];
               (7)  a county court judge requests the assignment of a
  statutory probate judge to hear a probate matter in the county
  court; or
               (8)  a local administrative statutory probate court
  judge requests the assignment of a statutory probate judge to hear a
  matter in a statutory probate court.
         SECTION 2.  Subsections (a) and (b), Section 25.002201,
  Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b), not [Not] later
  than the 15th day after the date an order of recusal or
  disqualification of a statutory probate court judge is issued in a
  case, the presiding judge [of the administrative judicial district]
  shall assign a statutory probate court judge or a former or retired
  judge of a statutory probate court to hear the case if:
               (1)  the judge of the statutory probate court recused
  himself or herself under Section 25.00255(g)(1)(A);
               (2)  the judge of the statutory probate court
  disqualified himself or herself under Section 25.00255(g-1);
               (3)  the order was issued under Section
  25.00255(i-3)(1); or
               (4)  the presiding judge [of the administrative
  judicial district] receives notice and a request for assignment
  from the clerk of the statutory probate court under Section
  25.00255(l).
         (b)  If the [presiding] judge who is the subject of an order
  of recusal or disqualification is [of an administrative judicial
  district does not assign a judge under Subsection (a) within the
  time prescribed by that subsection,] the presiding judge of the
  statutory probate courts, the chief justice of the supreme court
  shall [may] assign a regional presiding judge, a statutory probate
  judge, or a former or retired judge of a statutory probate court to
  hear the case [instead of the presiding judge of the administrative
  judicial district making the assignment under that subsection].
         SECTION 3.  Subsections (a), (g), (g-1), (i-2), (i-3),
  (i-5), and (l), Section 25.00255, Government Code, are amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  Notwithstanding any conflicting provision in the Texas
  Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules 18a and 18b, Texas Rules of Civil
  Procedure, apply to the recusal and disqualification of a statutory
  probate court judge except as otherwise provided by this section or
  another provision of this subchapter.  The presiding judge:
               (1)  has the authority and shall perform the functions
  and duties of the presiding judge of the administrative judicial
  region under the rules, including the duty to hear or rule on a
  referred motion of recusal or disqualification or, subject to
  Subdivisions (2) and (3) and to Section 25.002201, assign a judge to
  hear and rule on a referred motion of recusal or disqualification;
               (2)  may assign a presiding judge of the administrative
  judicial region to hear and rule on a referred motion of recusal or
  disqualification only with the consent of the presiding judge of
  the administrative judicial region; and
               (3)  may not assign a judge of a statutory probate court
  located in the same county as the statutory probate court served by
  the judge who is the subject of the motion of recusal or
  disqualification [A party in a hearing or trial in a statutory
  probate court may file with the clerk of the court a motion stating
  grounds for the recusal or disqualification of the judge. The
  grounds may include any disability of the judge to preside over the
  case].
         (g)  A judge who recuses himself or herself:
               (1)  shall enter an order of recusal and:
                     (A)  if the judge serves a statutory probate court
  located in a county with only one statutory probate court, request
  that the presiding judge [of the administrative judicial district]
  assign a judge under Section 25.002201 to hear the case; or
                     (B)  subject to Subsection (l), if the judge
  serves a statutory probate court located in a county with more than
  one statutory probate court, request that the presiding judge order 
  the clerk who serves the statutory probate courts in that county to 
  randomly reassign the case to a judge of one of the other statutory
  probate courts located in the county; and
               (2)  may not take other action in the case except for
  good cause stated in the order in which the action is taken.
         (g-1)  A judge who disqualifies himself or herself:
               (1)  shall enter an order of disqualification and:
                     (A)  if the judge serves a statutory probate court
  located in a county with only one statutory probate court, request
  that the presiding judge [of the administrative judicial district]
  assign a judge under Section 25.002201 to hear the case; or
                     (B)  subject to Subsection (l), if the judge
  serves a statutory probate court located in a county with more than
  one statutory probate court, request that the presiding judge order
  the clerk who serves the statutory probate courts in that county to
  randomly reassign the case to a judge of one of the other statutory
  probate courts; and
               (2)  may not take other action in the case.
         (i-2)  A judge who hears a motion for recusal or
  disqualification [under Subsection (i) or (i-1)] may also hear any
  amended or supplemented motion for recusal or disqualification
  filed in the case.
         (i-3)  If a motion for recusal or disqualification is granted
  [after a hearing conducted as provided by Subsection (i) or (i-1)],
  the presiding judge [who heard the motion] shall transfer the case
  to another court or assign another judge to the case and:
               (1)  if the judge subject to recusal or
  disqualification serves a statutory probate court located in a
  county with only one statutory probate court, the presiding judge
  or judge assigned to decide the motion shall enter an order of
  recusal or disqualification, as appropriate, and request that the
  presiding judge [of the administrative judicial district] assign a
  judge under Section 25.002201 to hear the case; or
               (2)  subject to Subsection (l), if the judge subject to
  recusal or disqualification serves a statutory probate court
  located in a county with more than one statutory probate court, the
  presiding judge or judge assigned to decide the motion shall enter
  an order of recusal or disqualification, as appropriate, and
  request that the clerk who serves the statutory probate courts in
  that county randomly reassign the case to a judge of one of the
  other statutory probate courts located in the county.
         (i-5)  A judge assigned to hear a motion for recusal or
  disqualification [under Subsection (i)] is entitled to receive the
  same salary, compensation, and expenses, and to be paid in the same
  manner and from the same fund, as a judge otherwise assigned under
  Section 25.0022[, except that a judge assigned under Subsection (i)
  shall provide the information required by Section 25.0022(l) to the
  presiding judge of the administrative judicial district, who shall
  immediately forward the information to the presiding judge of the
  statutory probate courts].
         (l)  If a clerk of a statutory probate court is unable to
  reassign a case as requested under Subsection (g)(1)(B) or (i-3)(2)
  because the other statutory probate court judges in the county have
  been recused or disqualified or are otherwise unavailable to hear
  the case, the clerk shall immediately notify the presiding judge
  [of the administrative judicial district] and request that the
  presiding judge [of the administrative judicial district] assign a
  judge under Section 25.002201 to hear the case.
         SECTION 4.  Section 26.012, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 26.012.  ASSIGNMENT OF VISITING JUDGE FOR PROBATE,
  GUARDIANSHIP, AND MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS. If the county judge is
  absent, incapacitated, recused, or disqualified to act in a
  probate, guardianship, or mental health matter, a visiting judge
  shall be assigned in accordance with Section 25.0022(h).
         SECTION 5.  The following are repealed:
               (1)  Subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (h), (i),
  (i-4), and (j), Section 25.00255, Government Code; and
               (2)  Subsection (c), Section 25.002201, Government
  Code.
         SECTION 6.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  a motion for recusal or disqualification of a judge that is filed on
  or after the effective date of this Act.  A motion for recusal or
  disqualification of a judge filed before the effective date of this
  Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the motion was
  filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.