88R2177 JTZ-D
 
  By: Schofield, Leach, Johnson of Dallas, H.B. No. 438
      Cook, Vasut, et al.
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the annual base salary from the state of a district
  judge.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 659.012, Government Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (b-2) and (b-3) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  Notwithstanding Section 659.011 and subject to
  Subsections (b), [and] (b-1), and (b-2):
               (1)  a judge of a district court is entitled to an
  annual base salary from the state as set by the General
  Appropriations Act in an amount equal to at least $140,000, except
  that the combined base salary of a district judge from all state and
  county sources, including compensation for any extrajudicial
  services performed on behalf of the county, may not exceed the
  amount that is $5,000 less than the maximum combined base salary
  from all state and county sources for a justice of a court of
  appeals other than a chief justice as determined under this
  subsection;
               (2)  a justice of a court of appeals other than the
  chief justice is entitled to an annual base salary from the state in
  the amount equal to 110 percent of the state base salary of a
  district judge as set by the General Appropriations Act, except
  that the combined base salary of a justice of the court of appeals
  other than the chief justice from all state and county sources,
  including compensation for any extrajudicial services performed on
  behalf of the county, may not exceed the amount that is $5,000 less
  than the base salary for a justice of the supreme court as
  determined under this subsection;
               (3)  a justice of the supreme court other than the chief
  justice or a judge of the court of criminal appeals other than the
  presiding judge is entitled to an annual base salary from the state
  in the amount equal to 120 percent of the state base salary of a
  district judge as set by the General Appropriations Act; and
               (4)  the chief justice or presiding judge of an
  appellate court is entitled to an annual base salary from the state
  in the amount equal to $2,500 more than the state base salary
  provided for the other justices or judges of the court, except that
  the combined base salary of the chief justice of a court of appeals
  from all state and county sources may not exceed the amount equal to
  $2,500 less than the base salary for a justice of the supreme court
  as determined under this subsection.
         (b-2)  The annual base salary from the state to which a judge
  of a district court is entitled under Subsection (a)(1) for each
  year of a state fiscal biennium is the amount equal to the sum of: 
               (1)  the annual base salary from the state under
  Subsection (a)(1) that is paid to a judge of a district court under
  that subdivision in the preceding state fiscal biennium; and
               (2)  subject to Subsection (b-3), the annual base
  salary described by Subdivision (1) multiplied by the average
  percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
  Consumers published by the United States Department of Labor,
  Bureau of Labor Statistics, or, if that index is discontinued or
  superseded, a similar index selected or calculated by the
  comptroller, during the two years preceding the year in which the
  state fiscal biennium for which the salary is computed begins.
         (b-3)  For purposes of Subsection (b-2)(2), if the average
  percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
  Consumers published by the United States Department of Labor,
  Bureau of Labor Statistics, or, if that index is discontinued or
  superseded, a similar index selected or calculated by the
  comptroller, during the period prescribed by that subdivision is
  less than zero, the percentage change is considered to be zero.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies
  beginning with the state fiscal biennium beginning September 1,
  2025.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.