Travis County Commissioners Court
November 23, 2004
Item 22
[One moment, please, for change in captioners]
>>
>> ...what I did was just ask him for language that he thought
may be appropriate, and that language in what I distributed this morning he
brought over to me and what I said we ought to give our legislative consults
if we're in agreement with that.
>> what I understood was county court number 4 can also hear
other cases, but as a preference family violence. So basically we'll have
4 and 8 doing basically the same thing, except that 4 gives preference to
veam violence -- family violence.
>> right. A lot of the judges also do domestic violence anyway.
And this is just for this court to cover that and some other matters. Okay?
>> do you want this language or not?
>> I would move approval of the suggested language related
to the new county court at law?
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
Now, yesterday there was suggested language for the district court also, and
if you distribute this to the other members of the court, right?
>> April bacon. I brought a pocket and distributed -- packet
and distributed it -- I think I gave it to one of your aids that had a number
of copies of things. If that got distributed, I don't know. We're talking
about -- everybody should have gotten a copy of that.
>> I didn't. I've got the petty cash one.
>> I did bring those up because those are the two that last
week I told you I would get copies to everybody on those. If you're talking
about the two court bills, I think susan distributed those. I gave copies
of those to her and I think she was going to put them in the chain.
>> that was my fault. The two delivered yesterday were petty
cash and the salaries.
>> right.
>> if you need me to go get additional copies of those others,
i'll be happy to go do that right now.
>> everybody has this?
>> no, I have the ones related to petty cash and --.
>> i'll be happy to run to the copy machine and make those
if I need to make those to get those distributed.
>> move that we deliver these to the -- the petty cash and
the judicial salaries.
>> second.
>> discussion? All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
I think we got a court last time, a district court, we got it last time. And
I think we gave -- last week, actually.
>> which one?
>> the district court -- criminal district court language.
Anything else for today? We'll have this item back on as a follow-up item
to give us an opportunity to cover what was not presented last week. And I
am sure that we have additional stuff, but this item is on just in case.
>> judge, there's one that we're not covering for, which
is because we don't have it ready, but there is an issue that was kind of
left over, lingering related to dangerous animals. These are basically dogs
that have been picked up. It's a situation that's been brought to our attention
by wells branch. There seems to be some inconsistencies in the law. Maybe
you can help me out with this related to the health and safety code about
holding an animal while an investigation goes on, and it seems to be that
the act is -- it is contrary to itself related to the holding of animals out
in the unincorporated while there is an investigation as to whether this is
a vicious dog that has attacked somebody and that the dog inadvertently can
be kept before the investigation is complete. This is just to give you a heads
up that we are working on trying to come up with some language and we'll bring
it to the court, but it's not ready for today, but it is out there dealing
with the handling of a vicious dog and being in custody while investigations
go on.
>> we did get some health and human services issues that
we should be concerned about, and I think we all will keep them on our radar.
It's really fiscal actions taken about various health and human services programs.
And it looks like for the last few legislative sessions they've been filled.
So we need to remain on the alert.
>> it's a concern.
>> there was a schedule approved at the meeting last Thursday
and we'll certainly make sure that that gets shared with everybody. It's good
every three weeks.
>> something like that, and as it gets closer, it meets more
Austin.
>> anybody else from the consultants while they're here.
And your intent is to start working on the various pieces of legislation that
we are sponsoring between now and being a year.
>> I know in terms of dealing with some of the state legislative
folks, our delegation, are you intending that we ought to start making some,
i'll call them, house calls on our own dell delegation of just as quickly
as we can letting them know what's on our agenda? This is kind of the time
that if we can get some of that stuff in between now and July -- January 12
and whatever date it is about the session, this would be a good time to get
some courtesy calls going. And I’m happy to participate in any way that I
can on courtesy calls.
>> I know the process is going to start, but I’m just wondering
--
>> Margaret and I did some courtesy calls once the session
started, and certainly if we also know some things that are on our heads up
radar screen, we ought to try and get some of the courtesy calls in now --
between now and the session as opposed to trying to get in on schedules once
the session starts.
>> my guess is we will need this or a similar item back on
between now and the end of the year. I think that we need to make sure that
the legislative delegation is aware.
>> so the actual legislation is during the session that our
consultants appear before us -- before us last time is something we will be
going forward with as far as what we've approved the last time we met.
>> we're trying to make sure we got them regarding bills
we wanted to sponsor ourselves.
>> I want to make sure when I do talk with the folks that
this is what we are going forward with.
>> the other part of this is just remaining alert to bills
that may be filed that impact us one way or the other.
>> judge, we're just going to make the presumption unless
somebody else us otherwise that the same thing as last time we had a session,
anne deckler in my office is volunteering with a smile on her face to help
be our liaison in terms of the assembling of the books and get getting information
to us on a weekly basis as kind of a liaison. We are happy to continue that
role if that's everybody's desire.
>> may advice can help. Mavis can help.
>> do we still have a contract with the legislative service?
Anything else on this item? Thank you very much. We appreciate it.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 3:00 PM