Texas Government Code 30.00007 – Presiding Judge
(a) If there is more than one municipal judge in the municipality, the governing body of the municipality shall appoint one of the judges as the presiding judge.
(b) The presiding judge shall:
(1) maintain a central docket for cases filed within the territorial limits of the municipality over which the municipal courts of record have jurisdiction;
(2) provide for the distribution of cases from the central docket to the individual municipal judges to equalize the distribution of business in the courts;
(3) request the jurors needed for cases that are set for trial by jury;
(4) temporarily assign judges or substitute judges to exchange benches and to act for each other in a proceeding pending in a court if necessary for the expeditious disposition of business in the courts;
(5) supervise and control the operation and clerical functions of the administrative department of each court, including the court’s personnel, during the proceedings of the court; and
(6) establish a court security committee to adopt security policies and procedures for the courts served by the presiding judge that is composed of:
(A) the presiding judge, or the presiding judge’s designee, who serves as presiding officer of the committee;
(B) a representative of the law enforcement agency or other entity that provides the primary security for the court;
(C) a representative of the municipality; and
(D) any other person the committee determines necessary to assist the committee.
Terms Used In Texas Government Code 30.00007
- Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(c) A court security committee may recommend to the governing body the uses of resources and expenditures of money for courthouse security, but may not direct the assignment of those resources or the expenditure of those funds.