Rep. Jeff Leach introduced HB 5130, a bill on Courts, to the Texas House on Thursday, March 13 during the 89(R) legislative session, according to the Texas Legislature website.
More specifically, the official text was summarized by the state legislature as ’’relating to the additional compensation certain counties pay to judges and justices for extrajudicial services’’.
The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.
This bill establishes compensation regulations for judges and justices in Texas, detailing state salary entitlements based on specific positions and service criteria. District court judges and business court judges are assigned a base salary of at least $140,000, while appeals justices’ salaries are pegged at 110% of district judges’. Supreme Court justices’ salaries are allowed to reach 120% of district judges’, with additional stipulations for certain positions. The bill also outlines conditions for salary enhancements tied to judicial tenure and service credit. Salary caps from county and state sources are integrated with these base amounts, though exceptions are articulated, particularly for administrative roles in counties with numerous district courts. The bill mandates the comptroller’s oversight to ensure adherence to salary regulations, effective starting Sept. 1, 2025.
Jeff Leach, the chair of the House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence, proposed another 63 bills during the 89(R) legislative session. He is also a member of the House Committee on Calendars and a member of the House Committee on Public Education.
Leach graduated from Baylor University with a BS and again from SMU Dedman School of Law with a JD.
Jeff Leach is currently serving in the Texas State House, representing the state’s 67th House district. He replaced previous state representative Jerry A. Madden in 2013.
Bills in Texas go through a multi-step legislative process, including committee review, debates, and votes in both chambers before reaching a final decision. Each session, there are typically thousands of bills introduced, but only a portion successfully navigate the process to become law.
You can read more about the bills and other measures here.
| Bill Number | Date Introduced | Short Description |
|---|---|---|
| HB 5128 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to court administration, including the term of a local administrative judge, court administration training, and the compensation of certain administrative judges |
| HB 5082 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to municipal and county enforcement of drug laws; providing civil penalties |
| HB 5081 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the protection of personal identifying information of certain persons in the judicial system; creating a criminal offense |
| HB 5080 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the confidentiality of certain information for employees of a county, a court, or the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System and the employees’ family members |
| HB 5079 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the qualifications of certain masters, magistrates, referees, and associate judges |
| HB 5078 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the amount in controversy in the jurisdiction of statutory county courts |
| HB 5077 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the essential knowledge and skills for the public school foundation curriculum and social studies curriculum |
| HB 5076 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to vicarious liability for certain medical care |
| HB 5069 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to trustee settlement of accounts |
| HB 5067 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the jurisdiction of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals |
| HB 5065 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the regulation of residential treatment centers, including requirements related to public education for certain children who reside in residential treatment centers; creating a criminal offense |
| HB 5062 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to requiring a public institution of higher education to award certain course credit for a dual credit course in computer science |
| HB 5061 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to prohibiting certain activities by contractors and vendors of state agencies; providing administrative penalties |
| HB 5060 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the operation and administration of and practices and procedures related to proceedings in the judicial branch of state government |
| HB 5059 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to criminal conduct involving a catalytic converter removed from a motor vehicle; creating a criminal offense |
| HB 5058 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the extent of a defendant’s criminal responsibility for the conduct of a coconspirator in a capital murder case and the review of certain convictions by the Board of Pardons and Paroles |
| HB 5054 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the open carrying of a handgun by a uniformed school marshal |
| HB 5053 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to a prohibition on marketing, advertising, or selling certain e-cigarette products; creating a criminal offense |
| HB 1620 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to nonsubstantive additions to, revisions of, and corrections in enacted codes, to the nonsubstantive codification or disposition of various laws omitted from enacted codes, and to conforming codifications enacted by the 88th Legislature to other Acts of that legislature |
| HB 1615 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the nonsubstantive revision of certain local laws concerning water and wastewater special districts, including a conforming amendment |
| HB 1610 | 03/13/2025 | Relating to the nonsubstantive revision of certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, including conforming amendments |
| HB 4713 | 03/12/2025 | Relating to amending the Texas General Arbitration Act |
| HB 4688 | 03/12/2025 | Relating to civil liability of a commercial motor vehicle owner or operator |
| HB 4685 | 03/12/2025 | Relating to fire safety inspections at public and private schools |
| HB 4684 | 03/12/2025 | Relating to instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of automated external defibrillators for school district, private school, and open-enrollment charter school employees and volunteers |
| HB 4683 | 03/12/2025 | Relating to the authority of certain municipalities to use certain tax revenue for hotel and convention center projects |
| HB 4682 | 03/12/2025 | Relating to the use of municipal hotel occupancy tax revenue and certain tax revenue derived from a hotel and convention center project by certain municipalities |
| HB 4079 | 03/07/2025 | Relating to the provision of proxy advisory services in connection with certain entities domiciled in this state |
| HB 4078 | 03/07/2025 | Relating to public improvement districts located in certain municipalities |
| HB 4076 | 03/07/2025 | Relating to prohibiting organ transplant recipient discrimination on the basis of vaccination status |
| HB 4075 | 03/07/2025 | Relating to change of venue in certain criminal cases involving a peace officer |
| HB 3223 | 02/24/2025 | Relating to statutes of limitation and repose for certain claims involving the construction or repair of an improvement to real property |
| HB 3165 | 02/21/2025 | Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of sexual assault of a child and changing the eligibility for parole of certain persons convicted of that offense |
| HB 3164 | 02/21/2025 | Relating to the withdrawal of a candidate in a runoff primary election |
| HB 3163 | 02/21/2025 | Relating to the county in which an application for court-ordered mental health services must be filed |
| HB 3162 | 02/21/2025 | Relating to the use of an accessible absentee mail system by certain voters |
| HB 6 | 02/20/2025 | Relating to discipline in public schools |
| HB 3067 | 02/20/2025 | Relating to the payment of salary to an individual pending the individual’s impeachment trial |
| HB 3066 | 02/20/2025 | Relating to the entitlement of certain municipalities to certain tax revenue associated with hotel and convention center projects |
| HB 3003 | 02/19/2025 | Relating to the unauthorized entry, occupancy, sale, rental, lease, advertisement for sale, rental, or lease, or conveyance of real property, including the removal of certain unauthorized occupants of a dwelling; creating criminal offenses; increasing a criminal penalty; authorizing a fee |
| HB 2916 | 02/18/2025 | Relating to criminal and civil liability for disabling, damaging, or destroying an unmanned aircraft |
| HB 2773 | 02/13/2025 | Relating to the unlawful altering of election procedures; providing a civil penalty |
| HB 2537 | 02/06/2025 | Relating to the provision of claims assistance services to veterans |
| HB 2536 | 02/06/2025 | Relating to the purchase of or acquisition of title to real property by certain aliens or foreign entities; creating a criminal offense |
| HB 2535 | 02/06/2025 | Relating to the determination of resident status of students by public institutions of higher education |
| HB 2507 | 02/05/2025 | Relating to automatic orders of nondisclosure of criminal history record information for certain misdemeanor defendants following successful completion of a period of deferred adjudication community supervision |
| HB 2498 | 02/05/2025 | Relating to the consequences of a criminal conviction on a person’s eligibility for an occupational license |
| HB 2463 | 02/05/2025 | Relating to the award of compensatory damages caused by certain delays under governmental construction contracts |
| HB 2462 | 02/05/2025 | Relating to the use of a high occupancy vehicle lane by an operator of a motor vehicle who is pregnant |
| HB 2461 | 02/05/2025 | Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of criminal mischief involving impairment of or disruption to a retail motor fuel pump |
