| 1 | 1 | | 89R12441 AMF-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Dutton H.B. No. 2799 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | |
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| 6 | 6 | | |
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| 7 | 7 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 8 | 8 | | AN ACT |
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| 9 | 9 | | relating to the exclusion of certain cases from judicial statistics |
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| 10 | 10 | | reporting, court performance measures, or other judicial or court |
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| 11 | 11 | | efficiency reporting by the Texas Judicial Council and the Office |
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| 12 | 12 | | of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System. |
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| 13 | 13 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 14 | 14 | | SECTION 1. Section 71.035(a), Government Code, as amended |
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| 15 | 15 | | by Chapters 486 (H.B. 841) and 677 (H.B. 1182), Acts of the 88th |
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| 16 | 16 | | Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, is reenacted and amended to |
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| 17 | 17 | | read as follows: |
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| 18 | 18 | | (a) Subject to Subsection (a-0), the [The] council shall |
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| 19 | 19 | | gather judicial statistics and other pertinent information, |
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| 20 | 20 | | including for each trial court in this state monthly court activity |
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| 21 | 21 | | statistics and case-level information on the amount and character |
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| 22 | 22 | | of the business transacted by the court, from the several state |
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| 23 | 23 | | judges and other court officials of this state. The monthly |
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| 24 | 24 | | information gathered by the council for each trial court in a county |
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| 25 | 25 | | with a population of at least one million must include, but is not |
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| 26 | 26 | | limited to: |
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| 27 | 27 | | (1) the number of cases assigned to the court; |
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| 28 | 28 | | (2) the case clearance rate for the court; |
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| 29 | 29 | | (3) the number of cases disposed by the court; |
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| 30 | 30 | | (4) the number of jury panels empaneled for the court; |
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| 31 | 31 | | (5) the number of orders of continuance for an |
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| 32 | 32 | | attorney before the court or by the court; |
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| 33 | 33 | | (6) the number of pleas accepted by the court; |
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| 34 | 34 | | (7) the number of cases tried by the judge of the court |
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| 35 | 35 | | or before a jury; and |
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| 36 | 36 | | (8) the number of cases tried before a visiting or |
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| 37 | 37 | | associate judge of the court. |
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| 38 | 38 | | SECTION 2. Section 71.035, Government Code, is amended by |
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| 39 | 39 | | adding Subsection (a-0) to read as follows: |
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| 40 | 40 | | (a-0) The monthly information the council gathers under |
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| 41 | 41 | | Subsection (a) on each trial court in this state excludes: |
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| 42 | 42 | | (1) family law cases; and |
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| 43 | 43 | | (2) for a county with a population of two million or |
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| 44 | 44 | | more, all civil cases. |
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| 45 | 45 | | SECTION 3. Section 72.082, Government Code, is amended to |
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| 46 | 46 | | read as follows: |
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| 47 | 47 | | Sec. 72.082. PERFORMANCE REPORT. The office shall annually |
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| 48 | 48 | | collect and publish a performance report of information regarding |
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| 49 | 49 | | the efficiency of the courts of this state. The report must include |
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| 50 | 50 | | certain disaggregated performance measures for each appellate |
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| 51 | 51 | | court, district court, statutory county court, statutory probate |
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| 52 | 52 | | court, and county court. The report may not include performance |
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| 53 | 53 | | measures related to: |
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| 54 | 54 | | (1) family law cases; or |
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| 55 | 55 | | (2) for a county with a population of two million or |
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| 56 | 56 | | more, any civil case. |
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| 57 | 57 | | SECTION 4. Section 72.083, Government Code, is amended by |
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| 58 | 58 | | amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as |
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| 59 | 59 | | follows: |
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| 60 | 60 | | (b) Subject to Subsection (c), the [The] office shall |
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| 61 | 61 | | annually report the following performance measures for each |
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| 62 | 62 | | district court, statutory county court, statutory probate court, |
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| 63 | 63 | | and county court: |
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| 64 | 64 | | (1) the court's clearance rate; |
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| 65 | 65 | | (2) the average time a case is before the court from |
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| 66 | 66 | | filing to disposition; and |
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| 67 | 67 | | (3) the age of the court's active pending caseload. |
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| 68 | 68 | | (c) The office shall exclude from the report required under |
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| 69 | 69 | | Subsection (b) performance measures related to: |
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| 70 | 70 | | (1) family law cases; or |
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| 71 | 71 | | (2) for a county with a population of two million or |
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| 72 | 72 | | more, any civil case. |
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| 73 | 73 | | SECTION 5. As soon as practicable after the effective date |
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| 74 | 74 | | of this Act, the Texas Judicial Council shall adopt any rules |
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| 75 | 75 | | necessary to implement the changes in law made by this Act, |
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| 76 | 76 | | including the rules necessary for the Office of Court |
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| 77 | 77 | | Administration of the Texas Judicial System to collect the |
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| 78 | 78 | | information required under Sections 71.035, 72.082, and 72.083, |
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| 79 | 79 | | Government Code, as amended by this Act. |
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| 80 | 80 | | SECTION 6. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails |
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| 81 | 81 | | over another Act of the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, |
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| 82 | 82 | | relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted |
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| 83 | 83 | | codes. |
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| 84 | 84 | | SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025. |
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