Relating to the removal from office of certain officers of political subdivisions, the official text

H.B. No. 2715

AN ACT

relating to the removal from office of certain officers of

political subdivisions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 87.015(c), Local Government Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(c) A petition for removal of an officer under this

subchapter [other than a prosecuting attorney must be addressed to

the district judge of the court in which it is filed. A petition for

removal of a prosecuting attorney] must be addressed to the

presiding judge of the administrative judicial region in which the

petition is filed. The petition must set forth the grounds alleged

for the removal of the officer in plain and intelligible language

and must cite the time and place of the occurrence of each act

alleged as a ground for removal with as much certainty as the nature

of the case permits.

SECTION 2. Section 87.0151, Local Government Code, is

amended to read as follows:

Sec. 87.0151. ASSIGNMENT OF JUDGE [IN CERTAIN CASES]. (a)

Immediately after a petition for removal of an officer under this

subchapter [a prosecuting attorney] is filed under Section 87.015,

the district clerk shall deliver a copy of the petition to the

presiding judge of the administrative judicial region in which the

court sits.

(b) On receiving a petition for removal [of a prosecuting

attorney] under Subsection (a), the presiding judge of the

administrative judicial region shall assign a district court judge

of a judicial district that does not include the county in which the

petition was filed to conduct the removal proceedings.

SECTION 3. Section 87.018(f), Local Government Code, is

amended to read as follows:

(f) In a proceeding to remove an officer under this

subchapter [a prosecuting attorney from office], the presiding

judge of the administrative judicial region in which the petition

for removal was filed shall appoint a prosecuting attorney from

another judicial district or county, as applicable, in the

administrative judicial region to represent the state.

SECTION 4. Sections 87.018(d) and (e), Local Government

Code, are repealed.

SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to

the removal of an officer under Subchapter B, Chapter 87, Local

Government Code, for which the petition for removal is filed under

that subchapter on or after the effective date of this Act. The

removal of an officer for which the petition for removal is filed

before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in

effect on the date the petition is filed, and the former law is

continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives

a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as

provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this

Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this

Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

______________________________
______________________________

President of the Senate
Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 2715 was passed by the House on May 6,

2025, by the following vote: Yeas 110, Nays 37, 1 present, not

voting.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 2715 was passed by the Senate on May

25, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 21, Nays 10.

______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

APPROVED: _____________________

Date

_____________________

Governor