The bill would amend the Government Code to provide that a county judge is entitled to an annual salary supplement of from the state in an amount equal to $25,200, or 18 percent of the state base salary paid to a district judge, if at least 18 percent of the functions that the judge performs are judicial functions (the threshold under current law is 40 percent) or if at least 18 percent of the total hours that the judge works are in the performance of judicial functions. The bill would apply only to a salary payment for a pay period beginning on or after the effective date of the bill.
Based on information provided by the Office of Court Administration and the Comptroller's Judiciary Section, reducing the percent of time a judge is required to perform judicial functions in order to be entitled to a salary supplement from the state could result in an increase in the number of judges entitled to a salary supplement from the state. However,
the impact to state expenditures cannot be estimated because the number of judges that would comply to receive the supplement cannot be determined. For illustrative purposes, 38 county judges that currently do not receive a state salary supplement could become eligible under the reduced threshold. If half of those judges became eligible and received the supplement, the fiscal impact would be $479,000 per fiscal year.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2021.
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.