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.