Judiciary
Texas bill would require state judges to show up for work
Proposed legislation in Texas would require judges and other “elected officers” to show up for work.
H.B. 470 would affect Texas appellate and district court judges, according to the Texas Lawyer’s Tex Parte Blog. It would require elected officers to “be physically present on a regular basis at a location at which official business of the jurisdiction served by the officer is ordinarily conducted.”
The sponsor of the bill is Rep. James White, R-Woodville. He tells Tex Parte he wasn’t taking aim at judges when he wrote the bill. Instead he wanted to address the problem of lame-duck officeholders who fail to win re-election and decide to show up “sparingly” for their duties.
