By:  Shelley                                           S.B. No. 256
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in a misdemeanor
    1-2  case.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subsections (b), (c), and (d), Article 27.14,
    1-5  Code of Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
    1-6        (b)  A defendant charged with a misdemeanor for which the
    1-7  maximum possible punishment is by fine only may, in lieu of the
    1-8  method provided in Subsection (a) of this article, mail or deliver
    1-9  in person to the court a plea of "guilty" or a plea of "nolo
   1-10  contendere" and a waiver of jury trial.  The defendant may also
   1-11  request in writing that the court notify the defendant, at the
   1-12  address stated in the request, of the amount of an appeal bond that
   1-13  the court will approve.  If the court receives a plea and waiver
   1-14  before the time the defendant is scheduled to appear in court, the
   1-15  court shall dispose of the case without requiring a court
   1-16  appearance by the defendant.  The court shall notify the defendant
   1-17  either in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested, of
   1-18  the amount of any fine assessed in the case and, if requested by
   1-19  the defendant, the amount of an appeal bond that the court will
   1-20  approve.  The defendant shall pay any fine assessed or give an
   1-21  appeal bond in the amount stated in the notice before the 31st day
   1-22  after receiving the notice.
   1-23        (c)  In a misdemeanor case <arising out of a moving traffic
   1-24  violation> for which the maximum possible punishment is by fine
    2-1  only, payment of a fine, or an amount accepted by the court
    2-2  constitutes a finding of guilty in open court, as though a plea of
    2-3  nolo contendere had been entered by the defendant.
    2-4        (d)  If written notice of an offense <a traffic violation>
    2-5  for which maximum possible punishment is by fine only or of a
    2-6  violation relating to the manner, time, and place of parking has
    2-7  been prepared, delivered, and filed with the court and a legible
    2-8  duplicate copy has been given to the defendant, the written notice
    2-9  <duplicate copy> serves as a complaint to which the defendant may
   2-10  plead "guilty," "not guilty," or "nolo contendere."  If the
   2-11  defendant pleads "not guilty" to the offense, a complaint shall be
   2-12  filed that conforms to the requirements of Chapter 45 of this code
   2-13  <Article 45.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1965>, and that
   2-14  complaint serves as an original complaint.  A defendant may waive
   2-15  the filing of a sworn complaint and elect that the prosecution
   2-16  proceed on the written notice of the charged offense if the
   2-17  defendant agrees in writing with the prosecution, signs the
   2-18  agreement, and files it with the court.
   2-19        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-20        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-21  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-22  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-23  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-24  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.