BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1717

By: White

Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that conditioning the authority of a person to hold office as a municipal judge in more than one municipality on each office being filled by appointment can be detrimental to smaller municipalities. C.S.H.B. 1717 seeks to remove that condition.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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

C.S.H.B. 1717 amends the Government Code to remove the condition on the authority of a person to hold office as a municipal judge in more than one municipality at the same time that each office is filled by appointment.

EFFECTIVE DATE

January 1, 2020, if the constitutional amendment permitting a person to hold more than one office as a municipal judge at the same time is approved by the voters.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1717 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute does not include the repeal of statutory provisions authorizing a person to hold office as a municipal judge in more than one municipality only if each office is filled by appointment. The substitute removes instead the condition on eligibility to hold more than one such office.