SB293

SB293 combines a judicial pay increase with new court deadlines, work reporting and judicial-discipline procedures. It raises the statutory minimum annual state base salary for district and business-court judges from $140,000 to $175,000, a 25% increase, and changes related compensation and retirement formulas. Signed June 20, 2025, it generally took effect September 1, 2025; Section 30, a misconduct-transition provision, took effect immediately. Final law; Official history.

For people using the courts: business, district and statutory county courts must hear or consider a summary-judgment motion within 45 days after its response is filed, then file and provide a written ruling within 90 days after argument or consideration. A summary-judgment motion asks the court to resolve all or part of a case without a trial. These requirements apply to motions filed on or after September 1, 2025, not every motion or every court. Clerks report compliance at least quarterly; the Office of Court Administration must publish an annual report by December 31. The law bars Supreme Court rules from modifying or repealing the statutory timing and docket-recording provisions.

District judges must attest twice yearly, by January 20 and July 20, to their previous six months of courthouse hours and other judicial work, including case work, administration and continuing education. The court administration office compiles an annual report by December 1. Appellate parties may still join remote oral argument from anywhere, but the court must participate from its courtroom or another state-provided facility unless exigent circumstances require otherwise. Persistent or willful violations of that location requirement, bail-setting rules, or specified court-performance duties can enter the judicial-discipline framework.

Judicial complaints: complainants may supply supporting documents within 45 days. The law adds a seven-year complaint limitation tied to misconduct or discovery, with a good-cause exception. It replaces the old complaint-processing timetable with a 120-day decision clock measured from the first commission meeting at which the complaint appears in the staff report. An extenuating-circumstances extension can run to 240 days from that meeting, with up to 90 additional days for multiple incidents or complaints. This is not a guarantee of resolution within 120 days of filing. Judges receive specified notices and attendance rights; staff may dismiss administratively deficient complaints. Sections 3–13.

Knowingly false complaints can bring administrative sanctions: up to $500 for the first, up to $2,500 for the second, and $5,000–$10,000 for each later false complaint. An unsuccessful complaint is not automatically a knowingly false one. Substance-abuse or incapacity complaints receive a special investigation and examination process, including paid suspension of up to 90 days when the commission requires an examination after the judge appears. The law also requires a suspension recommendation within 21 days after formal proceedings begin over persistent or willful bail-rule violations; it does not make every challenged bail decision an automatic removal. It tightens eligibility for retired or former judges to take assignments, while excluding sanctions that were reviewed and rescinded.

Pay and pensions: appellate chief or presiding judges receive a 7% supplement instead of $2,500. Local administrative district judges receive supplements of 3%, 5% or 7% of district-court base pay for counties with 3–4, 5–9 or at least 10 district courts, respectively; the business court’s administrative presiding judge receives the 7% amount. Other statutory salary relationships, service-based increases and applicable combined-pay limits still matter. Sections 17–26.

For the standard elected-class pension formula, the law replaces the moving district-judge salary reference with $175,000: annual benefits generally equal years of credited service × 2.3% × that amount, subject to the statutory cap and the separate prosecutor formula. This class includes legislators and certain statewide officials, not all state employees. The Texas Ethics Commission must publish an adjustment methodology by September 1, 2026 and consider increases beginning August 31, 2030, then every five years; no automatic increase is promised. The law also updates legislators’ cash-balance calculation. For Judicial Retirement System Plan One retirees who retired before September 1, 2025, it withholds this 2025 salary-driven pension increase until qualifying salary-increase legislation from the 90th or a later legislature takes effect. That is not a freeze on every judicial pension.

For eligible Plan Two retirees returning to full-time judicial office, the six-month separation requirement remains. The bill adds a 60-day election deadline and 9.5% contributions; at least 24 months of resumed service are needed for the specified recalculation, otherwise prior payments resume with a refund of the new contributions. It raises two optional continued-contribution rates from 6% to 9.5%, repeals the earlier implementation condition, and lets a defined group already back in office purchase prior resumed-service credit by September 1, 2027. This briefing describes the 2025 enactment, not whether each later rule or reporting obligation has been implemented.