By: Sibley S.B. No. 40
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the hearsay statement of a child abuse victim.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 2, Article 38.072, Code
1-4 of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
1-5 (b) A statement that meets the requirements of Subsection
1-6 (a) of this article is not inadmissible because of the hearsay rule
1-7 if:
1-8 (1) on or before the 14th day before the date the
1-9 proceeding begins, the party intending to offer the statement:
1-10 (A) notifies the adverse party of its intention
1-11 to do so;
1-12 (B) provides the adverse party with the name of
1-13 the witness through whom it intends to offer the statement; and
1-14 (C) provides the adverse party with a written
1-15 summary of the statement; and
1-16 (2) the trial court finds, in a hearing conducted
1-17 outside the presence of the jury, that the statement is reliable
1-18 based on the time, content, and circumstances of the statement<;>
1-19 and:
1-20 (A) <(3)> the child testifies <or is available
1-21 to testify> at the proceeding in court or in any other manner
1-22 provided by law; or
1-23 (B) the party intending to offer the statement
1-24 shows at the hearing that admitting the statement into evidence
2-1 without requiring the child to testify is necessary to protect the
2-2 welfare of the child.
2-3 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
2-4 only to a proceeding in the prosecution of an offense committed on
2-5 or after the effective date of this Act. For purposes of this
2-6 section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this
2-7 Act if any element of the offense occurs before the effective date
2-8 of this Act.
2-9 (b) A proceeding in the prosecution of an offense committed
2-10 before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
2-11 effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is
2-12 continued in effect for this purpose.
2-13 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
2-14 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.