SB251

SB251 authorizes Bell County’s commissioners court to select criminal magistrates and set their pay, qualifications and duties. Signed June 20, 2025, it took effect immediately. Appointments are optional, may be full-time or part-time, and last at the commissioners court’s pleasure. The bill itself does not establish that a magistrate was hired. Official history; Final law.

A magistrate must either have served as a justice of the peace or municipal court judge, or have been licensed to practice law in Texas and in good standing with the State Bar for at least two years. The commissioners court establishes minimum qualifications and compensation. The two-year lawyer requirement is an alternative to the prior-judicial-service route, not a rule that every appointee must be a lawyer.

The magistrates share criminal jurisdiction with Bell County justices of the peace and must prioritize the initial magistrate duties under Article 15.17. The commissioners court may designate magistrates to conduct regular hearings for warnings, bail and release conditions, counsel appointments and other routine preindictment or pending-case matters, with preference for people held in county jail. A magistrate may ask about an intended plea and set the case for an appropriate hearing before a judge or master; this is not a general grant of district-court trial jurisdiction.

Magistrates receive the same judicial immunity as district judges. Sworn witnesses remain subject to perjury penalties, and a referring court may punish specified nonappearance, refusal to answer or direct contempt before a magistrate. The bill also updates the statewide list of magistrates, adding Bell County and conforming the recodified list to 2023 legislation concerning other counties. Authority and limits; Earlier HB3474, Section 4.001.