By:  Schechter                                         H.B. No. 935
       73R1161 CLG-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the hearsay statement of a child abuse victim.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 2(b), Article 38.072, Code of Criminal
    1-5  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (b)  A statement that meets the requirements of Subsection
    1-7  (a) of this article is not inadmissible because of the hearsay rule
    1-8  if:
    1-9              (1)  on or before the 14th day before the date the
   1-10  proceeding begins, the party intending to offer the statement:
   1-11                    (A)  notifies the adverse party of its intention
   1-12  to do so;
   1-13                    (B)  provides the adverse party with the name of
   1-14  the witness through whom it intends to offer the statement; and
   1-15                    (C)  provides the adverse party with a written
   1-16  summary of the statement; and
   1-17              (2)  the trial court finds, in a hearing conducted
   1-18  outside the presence of the jury, that the statement is reliable
   1-19  based on the time, content, and circumstances of the statement<;>
   1-20  and:
   1-21                    (A) <(3)>  the child testifies <or is available
   1-22  to testify> at the proceeding in court or in any other manner
   1-23  provided by law; or
   1-24                    (B)  the party intending to offer the statement
    2-1  shows at the hearing that admitting the statement into evidence
    2-2  without requiring the child to testify is necessary to protect the
    2-3  welfare of the child.
    2-4        SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
    2-5  only to a proceeding in the prosecution of an offense committed on
    2-6  or after the effective date of this Act.   For purposes of this
    2-7  section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this
    2-8  Act if any element of the offense occurs before the effective date
    2-9  of this Act.
   2-10        (b)  A proceeding in the prosecution of an offense committed
   2-11  before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
   2-12  effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is
   2-13  continued in effect for this purpose.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-15        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-16  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-17  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
   2-18  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-19  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.