HBA-BSM H.B. 3168 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3168 By: Thompson Judicial Affairs 3/20/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the Texas Constitution requires the Judicial Districts Board (JDB) to make a statewide reapportionment of judicial districts if the legislature fails to do so by a certain deadline. If the JDB is unsuccessful, the reapportionment responsibility falls to the Legislative Redistricting Board. The caseloads of district judges may vary by more than 600 percent, and population variance per district by more than 20,000 percent. Many people feel the legislature may again fail to act on reapportioning districts unless forced to do so. House Bill 3168 sets forth redistricting for judicial districts by placing all counties into two 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 3168 amends the Government Code by repealing law relating to the composition of certain judicial districts, the Judicial District Act of 1969, family district courts, and criminal district courts and divides the counties into two separate judicial districts. The bill sets forth each county that composes the districts. EFFECTIVE DATE December 31, 2003.