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Credit Hours and Reporting Periods

Reporting periods for mandatory judicial education coincide with the state fiscal year, September 1, through August 31.

The Legislature delegated the responsibility for all judicial education programs funded by the Judges and Court Personnel Training Fund grant to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Registrar duties for maintaining judicial education records of Constitutional County Judges were transferred from the Texas Center for the Judiciary to the Texas Association of Counties January 1, 1994.

For experienced judges, the Rules of Judicial Education require 16 hours of approved judicial training for each reporting period. New judges are required 30 hours of approved judicial training within 12 months of taking office, then 16 hours per fiscal year thereafter.

New judges must obtain 30 credit hours in their first 12 months and 1.33 hours (16 hrs./12) for each month afterward until the end of the current reporting period (round total to nearest whole number). For example, a judge taking office Jan. 1, 2006 must have 30 credit hours by Jan. 1, 2007 plus another 11 hours (1.33 hours x 8 months = 10.64 hours rounded to 11 hours) by Aug. 31, 2007.

TAC Policy for Disclosure of Judicial Education Records

This policy complies with the Freedom of Information Act: an individual transcript of recorded hours will be mailed to each judge annually. Inquiries for judicial education records must:

• Be in writing, FAX requests are acceptable
• Specify records requested
• Include requesters name, address, and signature
• Pay reasonable fees for all records except their own
• Telephone disclosure of records may be made directly to the judge with identity verification. Sorry, this excludes staff!
• Judges will be notified of requests for their records but judges have no veto power over disclosure.

Several anonymous and voluminous requests for judges’ education records prompted adoption of the disclosure policy. We regret any inconvenience caused by this policy, it is intended for protection of your privacy and information. However, effective policy must be consistent and we ask your understanding when
TAC staff follows it.

For questions and information about Judicial Education records, call Joyce Francis or Dwayne Holman at 512.478.8753 (Texas toll-free 800.456.5974) for further assistance.