re: Word on the street: Harris Co. Judge Lina Hidalgo is planning on resigning today?

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I live in Harris and have no idea what she does. I'm not even sure I remember what a county judge does in theory besides approve county department budgets and issue liquor licenses.

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County Judge is a weird office under the Texas Constitution. Basically a holdover from frontier days.

In smaller counties, he is BOTH a sitting "judicial" judge (the primary judge for probate matters, for instance) AND the chief executive officer of the county (essentially the "mayor" or the "governor" or "president" of the county).

In larger counties (like Harris, but including MUCH smaller counties), the judiciary duties are removed and assigned to "County Courts at Law," leaving the County Judge as purely an executive position. This must be done by the Texas Legislature, on a county-by-county basis. As such, in SOME counties the County Judge keeps SOME judicial duties while others have been reassigned to County Courts at Law. In other counties, all judicial duties are reassigned by statute. For instance, Hidalgo has no judicial duties.