The bill would amend the Government Code to create the 478th Judicial District in Bell County, the 480th Judicial District of Williamson County, the 481st Judicial District in Denton County, and the Criminal Judicial District No. 5 of Tarrant County.
The bill would amend the Government Code to create Probate Court Number 2 of Denton County, to give County Court at Law 2 of Denton County jurisdiction over all civil causes and proceedings, regardless of amount in controversy for eminent domain, for statutory courts and direct and inverse condemnation cases. The bill would also create the County Court at Law No. 5 of Williamson County.
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to prohibit a judge or justice from accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere unless the defendant appears mentally competent, and the plea is free and voluntary.
The bill would amend the Family Code to require the clerk of court to send certain transferred documents through the electronic filing system when the transfer is ordered by a court. The bill would require the Office of Court Administration (OCA) to adopt rules setting out which documents are to be transferred and to develop a standardized transfer certificate and index of transferred documents form.
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to allow a habeas corpus applicant to serve a copy of the application for writ of habeas corpus to the state attorney by secure electronic mail the attorney has on file with the electronic filing system or another form of secure electronic transmission.
The bill would amend Sec the Civil Practice and Remedies Code to require the citation for receivership to be published on the public information internet website maintained by OCA, except as provided by Section 17.032.
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to require the Forensic Science Commission to adopt a code of professional responsibility to regulate the conduct of persons, laboratories, facilities, and other entities regulated under this article, publish the code of professional responsibility, adopt rules establishing sanctions for code violations update the code of professional responsibility, as necessary.
The bill would require the commission to investigate any allegation of professional negligence or misconduct that would affect the integrity of an examination or test conducted by a crime laboratory and a forensic examination or test not subject to accreditation or testimony related to an analysis, examination, or test.
The bill would amend the Government Code to give a juror an option to direct the county treasurer to donate a specified amount of a person's daily jury reimbursement to a veterans court treatment program or a veterans county service office.
The bill would amend the Government Code to permit a judge or magistrate of a district court or statutory county court authorized to hear criminal cases to be appointed to preside over a regional specialty court program if approved by the local administrative district and statutory county court judges of each county participating in the program or another approval method selected by the judges and the presiding judges of each of the administrative judicial regions in which the participating counties are located sign an order granting the appointment.
The bill would amend the Government Code to allow a veterans treatment court program to transfer responsibility for supervising the defendant's participation in the program to an adjacent county where the defendant works or resides and allows a court to place the defendant in a veterans treatment court program located in a county adjacent to the county where the defendant works or resides, if the county where the defendant is charged does not operate a veterans treatment court program.
The bill would amend the Government Code to clarify and add protective orders that must be included in the protective order registry maintained by OCA to include those issued by a court in this state under Chapter 83 or 85, Family Code under Subchapter A, Chapter 7B, Code of Criminal Procedure. The bill would require clerks to remove from the registry protective orders that have been vacated.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2021.