By: Wentworth S.B. No. 324
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to establishing the amount of bail in a criminal case.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Article 17.15, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-4 amended to read as follows:
1-5 Art. 17.15. RULES FOR FIXING AMOUNT OF BAIL. The amount of
1-6 bail to be required in any case is to be regulated by the court,
1-7 judge, magistrate or officer taking the bail; they are to be
1-8 governed in the exercise of this discretion by the Constitution and
1-9 by the following rules:
1-10 1. The bail shall be sufficiently high to give
1-11 reasonable assurance that the undertaking will be complied with.
1-12 2. The power to require bail is not to be so used as
1-13 to make it an instrument of oppression.
1-14 3. The nature of the offense and the circumstances
1-15 under which it was committed are to be considered.
1-16 4. The ability to make bail is to be regarded, and
1-17 proof may be taken upon this point.
1-18 5. The future safety of a victim of the alleged
1-19 offense and the community shall <may> be considered.
1-20 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
1-21 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.