By Coleman                                            H.B. No. 2772
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of a commissioners court in certain
    1-3  counties to establish a public defender's office and to provide for
    1-4  the expenses of that offices:
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Chapter 26 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is
    1-7  amended by adding Article 26.049 to read as follows:
    1-8        ART. 26.049.  Public Defenders in Certain Counties.  The
    1-9  commissioners court of a county with a population of 100,000 or
   1-10  more may establish a public defender's office and provide for the
   1-11  expenses of that office.
   1-12        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect on September 1, 1993.
   1-13        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   1-18                       COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
   1-19        Amend HB 2772 as follows:
   1-20        On page 1, line 11, insert the following before the period
   1-21  and after "office":  ", including contracts with private attorneys,
   1-22  for such service, at the discretion of the commissioners court"
   1-23                                                             Longoria