HBA-SEB H.B. 323 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 323 By: Brown, Fred Judicial Affairs 2/23/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Texas cities may own land and facilities located outside their city limits, including parks, playgrounds, water plants, sewer plants, electricity-generating facilities, and libraries. Currently, cities have the authority to adopt and enforce ordinances relating to acts committed at these places, but county justice courts rather than municipal courts have jurisdiction over criminal violations of those ordinances. H.B. 323 gives a municipality exclusive original jurisdiction in a criminal case that occurs in a municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction if the case involves the violation of a city ordinance and the activity is punishable only by a fine. 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 Section 29.003(a), Government Code, to include municipal property located in the municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction as territory over which a municipal court is required to have exclusive original jurisdiction in certain criminal cases. Cases that fall under that jurisdiction are those which arise under the municipality's ordinances and are punishable by a fine of no more than $500 or no more than $2000 in cases arising under a municipal ordinance governing fire safety, zoning, or public health and sanitation. SECTION 2. Amends Section 29.003(b), Government Code, to include criminal cases that arise on municipal property within a municipality's extraterritorial jurisdiction as cases over which a municipal court shares concurrent jurisdiction with the justice court in the municipality's precinct. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.