Bailey v. State

15 S.W.3d 622, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 2176, 2000 WL 381865
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 4, 2000
DocketNos. 05-99-00530-CR, 05-99-00531-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 15 S.W.3d 622 (Bailey v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bailey v. State, 15 S.W.3d 622, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 2176, 2000 WL 381865 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

JAMES, J.

Appellant Kathryn R. Bailey was issued traffic citations in the City of Garland for driving a motor vehicle on a public road with an expired inspection certificate and for failure to show proof of financial responsibility. Before the Garland Municipal Court of Record, appellant pleaded not guilty to both charges. In a trial before the court, appellant was found guilty in each case, and the trial court assessed fines of $285 and $89, respectively. The Dallas County Criminal Court of Appeals affirmed appellant’s convictions, and appellant now appeals to this Court.

In her brief before the county criminal court of appeals, which is the operative brief before this Court,1 appellant asserts [624]*624the following five points of error in each case: (1) the Garland Municipal Court of Record Act is an unconstitutional local law and improperly suspends operation of a general act of the legislature; (2) the Garland Municipal Court of Record Act violates the separation of powers doctrine by failing to provide for a State prosecutor; (3) the Garland Municipal Court of Record Act violates the Texas Constitution by providing that fines and other moneys collected for State offenses be paid for the “use and benefit of the city”; (4) the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney failed to appear for the State; and (5) the municipal court had no jurisdiction because the State failed to file an information. We conclude appellant’s points of error lack merit and affirm the judgments of the Dallas County Criminal Court of Appeals.

In her first point of error, appellant contends the Garland Municipal Court of Record Act is an unconstitutional local law and unconstitutionally suspends operation of a general act of the Texas Legislature. Therefore, appellant contends she was denied access to a legally constituted court. We disagree.

Appellant first contends that the establishment of the Garland Municipal Court of Record violates article III, section 56 of the Texas Constitution, which provides:

The Legislature shall not, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, pass any local or special law authorizing: ... Regulating the practice or jurisdiction of, or changing the rules of evidence in any judicial proceeding or inquiry before courts....

Tex. Const, art. Ill, § 56 (emphasis added). We recently rejected a similar argument in Martin v. State, 13 S.W.3d 133, 136-39 (Tex.App. — Dallas 2000, no pet. h.) (holding Irving Municipal Court of Record was not established in violation of Texas Constitution). As we noted in Martin, article V, section 1 of the Texas Constitution authorizes the legislature to establish “such other courts” as it deems necessary, including courts limited to a particular geographical jurisdiction. See id. at 137; see also Allison v. State, 127 Tex.Crim. 322, 76 S.W.2d 527, 528 (1934) (creation of Tarrant County Court at Law No. 1 was not unconstitutional as a local or special law), appeal dism’d, 295 U.S. 717, 55 S.Ct. 828, 79 L.Ed. 1672 (1935). Therefore, because a statute limited to the City of Garland for the purpose of establishing courts in the City of Garland was “otherwise provided in this Constitution,” the Garland Municipal Court of Record does not violate this provision of article III, section 56. See Martin, op. at 137.

Appellant also argues that the establishment of the Garland Municipal Court of Record violates the requirement of article III, section 56 that “in all other cases where a general law can be made applicable, no local or special law shall be enacted.... ” See Tex. Const, art. Ill, § 56. Appellant reads this provision to effectively swallow up the exception discussed above. Appellant cites no authority for her position, and we do not find her argument persuasive. We read the phrase “in all other cases” as a “catch-all” provision added to the laundry list of local and special laws prohibited by article III, section 56. As explained above, local laws establishing courts are exempt from this laundry list by the introductory phrase, “except as otherwise provided by this Constitution.” Therefore we do not read the catch-all provision in article III, section 56 to be a limitation on the power to create courts provided to the legislature in article V, section 1. We hold the Garland Munici[625]*625pal Court of Record Act does not violate article III, section 56 of the Texas Constitution.

Finally, appellant contends the establishment of the Garland Municipal Court of Record violates article I, section 28, which provides, “No power of suspending laws in this State shall be exercised except by the Legislature.” Although appellant fails to specify what law she contends was suspended, presumably she is referring to section 29.002 of the government code, which provides that “[a] municipal court [not of record] is created in each municipality.” Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 29.002 (Vernon 1988). Because the Garland Municipal Court of Record Act provides that a municipal court which is not a court of record may not exist concurrently with a municipal court of record,2 appellant contends the act of creating the current municipal court of record violates article I, section 28 because it “suspended” the law creating the former municipal court. Assuming without deciding that section 29.002 of the government code may fairly be characterized as having been “suspended” by section 30.00892(b), we see no violation of article I, section 28. By its plain language, article I, section 28 prohibits suspension of any law “except by the Legislature.” In this case, it was the legislature that provided for municipal courts of record in Garland to replace the former court. Therefore, there was no violation of article I, section 28. In substance, appellant’s argument is merely a restatement of her contention that the legislature may not delegate to a municipality various details concerning the implementation of a court system for which the legislature has provided. As we stated in Martin, this limited delegation “does not purport to delegate to the city’s governing body the legislature’s inherent constitutional authority to create or establish whatever judicial system it deems necessary.” Martin, op. at 138-39. Appellant’s argument lacks merit. We overrule appellant’s first point of error.

In her second and fourth points of error, appellant generally contends the establishment of the Garland Municipal Court of Record violates article V, section 21 of the Texas Constitution and the principle of separation of powers because it allows the city attorney to act as prosecutor rather than the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney. We also rejected this contention in Martin. In Martin, we concluded the plain language of article V, section 21 of the Texas Constitution provides that the duties of the district attorney shall be regulated by the legislature and the legislature may provide that a city attorney may act as prosecutor in a municipal court. Id. at 139; see also Aguirre v. State, No. 0580-98, slip op. at 10, 1999 WL 767794, at *3 (Tex.Crim.App. Sept.29, 1999) (“[i]n the municipal court the city attorney has the right and duty to prosecute”); City of El Paso v. Alvarez, 931 S.W.2d 370, 375 (Tex.App. — El Paso 1996, orig.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Christopher Leverson v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Gayleen S. Todd v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Michael David Barksdale v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013
Larry Camp v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Texas Attorney General Reports, 2010
Opinion No.
Texas Attorney General Reports, 2010
Schinzing v. State
234 S.W.3d 208 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Daniel Lee Schinzing v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
City of Houston v. Williams
183 S.W.3d 409 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
the City of Houston v. Steve Williams
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 S.W.3d 622, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 2176, 2000 WL 381865, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bailey-v-state-texapp-2000.