| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the exclusion of certain cases from judicial statistics |
|
|
reporting, court performance measures, or other judicial or court |
|
|
efficiency reporting by the Texas Judicial Council and the Office |
|
|
of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 71.035(a), Government Code, as amended |
|
|
by Chapters 486 (H.B. 841) and 677 (H.B. 1182), Acts of the 88th |
|
|
Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, is reenacted and amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(a) Subject to Subsection (a-0), the [The] council shall |
|
|
gather judicial statistics and other pertinent information, |
|
|
including for each trial court in this state monthly court activity |
|
|
statistics and case-level information on the amount and character |
|
|
of the business transacted by the court, from the several state |
|
|
judges and other court officials of this state. The monthly |
|
|
information gathered by the council for each trial court in a county |
|
|
with a population of at least one million must include, but is not |
|
|
limited to: |
|
|
(1) the number of cases assigned to the court; |
|
|
(2) the case clearance rate for the court; |
|
|
(3) the number of cases disposed by the court; |
|
|
(4) the number of jury panels empaneled for the court; |
|
|
(5) the number of orders of continuance for an |
|
|
attorney before the court or by the court; |
|
|
(6) the number of pleas accepted by the court; |
|
|
(7) the number of cases tried by the judge of the court |
|
|
or before a jury; and |
|
|
(8) the number of cases tried before a visiting or |
|
|
associate judge of the court. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 71.035, Government Code, is amended by |
|
|
adding Subsection (a-0) to read as follows: |
|
|
(a-0) The monthly information the council gathers under |
|
|
Subsection (a) on each trial court in this state excludes: |
|
|
(1) family law cases; and |
|
|
(2) for a county with a population of two million or |
|
|
more, all civil cases. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Section 72.082, Government Code, is amended to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 72.082. PERFORMANCE REPORT. The office shall annually |
|
|
collect and publish a performance report of information regarding |
|
|
the efficiency of the courts of this state. The report must include |
|
|
certain disaggregated performance measures for each appellate |
|
|
court, district court, statutory county court, statutory probate |
|
|
court, and county court. The report may not include performance |
|
|
measures related to: |
|
|
(1) family law cases; or |
|
|
(2) for a county with a population of two million or |
|
|
more, any civil case. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 72.083, Government Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as |
|
|
follows: |
|
|
(b) Subject to Subsection (c), the [The] office shall |
|
|
annually report the following performance measures for each |
|
|
district court, statutory county court, statutory probate court, |
|
|
and county court: |
|
|
(1) the court's clearance rate; |
|
|
(2) the average time a case is before the court from |
|
|
filing to disposition; and |
|
|
(3) the age of the court's active pending caseload. |
|
|
(c) The office shall exclude from the report required under |
|
|
Subsection (b) performance measures related to: |
|
|
(1) family law cases; or |
|
|
(2) for a county with a population of two million or |
|
|
more, any civil case. |
|
|
SECTION 5. As soon as practicable after the effective date |
|
|
of this Act, the Texas Judicial Council shall adopt any rules |
|
|
necessary to implement the changes in law made by this Act, |
|
|
including the rules necessary for the Office of Court |
|
|
Administration of the Texas Judicial System to collect the |
|
|
information required under Sections 71.035, 72.082, and 72.083, |
|
|
Government Code, as amended by this Act. |
|
|
SECTION 6. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails |
|
|
over another Act of the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, |
|
|
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted |
|
|
codes. |
|
|
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |