Bill Would Impose Time Limits on Appellate Courts
While trolling through the Texas Legislature's web site over the weekend, Jerry Bullard, Co-Chair of the State Bar Appellate Section's Bench-Bar Liaison Committee, discovered an interesting bill that he (and I) originally overlooked. With Jerry's permission, I am posting excerpts from a message he sent his colleagues about the bill, House Bill 3095.
HB 3095, authored by Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale (R-Houston), relates to the periods for disposing of certain actions and petitions by appellate courts in this state. As its caption suggests, the bill seeks to establish deadlines for the appellate courts to dispose of all cases. Specifically, HB 3095 would . . . [r]equire the Supreme Court . . . to rule on a regular cause not later than the first anniversary of the date the court agreed to grant review of the cause and grant or deny a petition not later than the expiration of the six-month period after the date the petition was filed.
For Supreme Court proceedings, a regular cause is defined as: 1) a case in which four (4) or more justices decide that a petition should be reviewed; 2) a direct appeal that the Court has agreed to review; or, 3) a certified question that the Court has agreed to review.
A petition means: 1) a petition for review; 2) a petition for writ of mandamus; or, 3) a petition for writ of habeas corpus, prohibition, or injunction.
[HB 3095 would also] [r]equire the intermediate appellate courts to rule or otherwise dispose of an appellate case not later than the expiration of the 18-month period after the date the case was filed with the court. The term appellate case appears to encompass all cases filed in the courts of appeals.
[Jerry's] initial reaction to HB 3095 is to question whether the deadlines are realistic given the caseload and IOPs in some of the larger intermediate courts, the Supreme Court and the CCA, and whether the bill has the backing to pass. [Jerry] suspect[s] we'll learn the answer to both questions as the process moves forward.
