HBA-SEB H.B. 1239 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1239 By: Ramsay Judicial Affairs 4/7/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law does not allocate a district court to Wood County. As a result, Wood County shares two district courts with neighboring Smith and Van Zandt counties, the 114th District Court and the 294th District Court, respectively. A district court serving Wood County exclusively may alleviate the crowded conditions of the civil and criminal dockets. H.B. 1239 creates the 410th Judicial District, composed of Wood County, which has concurrent jurisdiction with the county court in Wood County over all matters whether civil, criminal, original, or appellate. This bill also removes Wood County from the jurisdiction of the 114th and 294th judicial districts. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter C, Chapter 24, Government Code, by adding Section 24.556, as follows: Sec. 24.556. 410TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT (WOOD COUNTY). Establishes that the 410th Judicial District is composed of Wood County. Provides that the 410th District Court has concurrent jurisdiction with the county court in Wood County over all matters of civil and criminal jurisdiction, original and appellate, in cases over which the county court has jurisdiction under the constitution and laws of this state. Authorizes matters and proceedings in the concurrent jurisdiction of the 410th District Court to be filed in either court. Authorizes all cases of concurrent jurisdiction to be transferred between the 410th District Court and the county court. Prohibits a case from being transferred from one court to another without the consent of the judge of the court to which it is transferred. Prohibits a case from being transferred unless it is within the jurisdiction of the court to which it is transferred. SECTION 2. Amends Section 24.216, Government Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 3. Amends Section 24.471, Government Code, to make conforming changes. SECTION 4. (a) Effective date: September 1, 1999. (b) Requires the local administrative judge to transfer all cases from Wood County that are pending in the 114th District Court or the 294th District Court to the 410th District Court on the effective date of this Act. (c) Establishes that when a case is transferred from one court to another under Subsection (b), all obligations issued from the transferring court are returnable to the court to which the case is transferred, as if originally issued by that court. Provides that all persons summoned to appear in a court from which a case is transferred are required to appear before the court to which a case is transferred, as if originally required to appear before the court to which the transfer is made. SECTION 5. Emergency clause.