| 1 | 1 | | 84R7980 YDB-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: King of Taylor H.B. No. 2727 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 6 | 6 | | AN ACT |
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| 7 | 7 | | relating to the administration of multicounty statutory county |
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| 8 | 8 | | courts and to the 1st Multicounty Court at Law. |
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| 9 | 9 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 10 | 10 | | SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 25, Government Code, is |
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| 11 | 11 | | amended by adding Section 25.2607 to read as follows: |
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| 12 | 12 | | Sec. 25.2607. DESIGNATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTY FOR |
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| 13 | 13 | | MULTICOUNTY STATUTORY COUNTY COURTS. (a) If a statute that |
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| 14 | 14 | | establishes a multicounty statutory county court does not designate |
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| 15 | 15 | | one of the counties that compose the multicounty statutory county |
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| 16 | 16 | | court as the administrative county for that court, the county with |
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| 17 | 17 | | the greatest population of the counties composing the court at the |
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| 18 | 18 | | time the court is established is the administrative county for that |
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| 19 | 19 | | court. |
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| 20 | 20 | | (b) The commissioners courts of the counties that compose a |
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| 21 | 21 | | multicounty statutory county court may enter into an agreement to |
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| 22 | 22 | | provide support for the court. The administrative county for the |
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| 23 | 23 | | court may receive contributions from the other counties composing |
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| 24 | 24 | | the court to pay the operating expenses of the court. |
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| 25 | 25 | | (c) Except for money provided by state appropriations or |
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| 26 | 26 | | under an agreement under Subsection (b), the administrative county |
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| 27 | 27 | | shall pay out of the county's general fund the salaries, |
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| 28 | 28 | | compensation, and expenses incurred in operating the multicounty |
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| 29 | 29 | | statutory county court. |
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| 30 | 30 | | (d) Notwithstanding Section 25.0015, the state shall |
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| 31 | 31 | | annually compensate the administrative county of a multicounty |
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| 32 | 32 | | statutory county court in an amount equal to 100 percent of the |
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| 33 | 33 | | state salary of a district court judge in the county for the salary |
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| 34 | 34 | | of the judge of the multicounty statutory county court. |
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| 35 | 35 | | (e) The court fees and costs collected by the clerk of a |
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| 36 | 36 | | multicounty statutory county court shall be deposited in the |
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| 37 | 37 | | appropriate county fund as provided by law. |
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| 38 | 38 | | SECTION 2. Section 25.2701, Government Code, is amended to |
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| 39 | 39 | | read as follows: |
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| 40 | 40 | | Sec. 25.2701. 1ST MULTICOUNTY COURT AT LAW (FISHER[, |
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| 41 | 41 | | MITCHELL,] AND NOLAN COUNTIES). Fisher[, Mitchell,] and Nolan |
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| 42 | 42 | | Counties have a multicounty statutory county court composed of |
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| 43 | 43 | | those counties, the 1st Multicounty Court at Law. |
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| 44 | 44 | | SECTION 3. Section 25.2702, Government Code, is amended by |
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| 45 | 45 | | adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows: |
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| 46 | 46 | | (c-1) Nolan County is the administrative county for the 1st |
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| 47 | 47 | | Multicounty Court at Law. |
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| 48 | 48 | | SECTION 4. Section 25.2702(g), Government Code, is |
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| 49 | 49 | | repealed. |
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| 50 | 50 | | SECTION 5. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this |
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| 51 | 51 | | section, this Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of |
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| 52 | 52 | | two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by |
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| 53 | 53 | | Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not |
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| 54 | 54 | | receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes |
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| 55 | 55 | | effect September 1, 2015. |
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| 56 | 56 | | (b) Section 2 of this Act, amending Section 25.2701, |
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| 57 | 57 | | Government Code, takes effect January 1, 2019. |
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