By:  Wentworth                                         S.B. No. 324
       73R2681 NSC-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to establishing the amount of bail in a criminal case.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Article 17.15, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        Art. 17.15.  RULES FOR FIXING AMOUNT OF BAIL.  The amount of
    1-7  bail to be required in any case is to be regulated by the court,
    1-8  judge, magistrate or officer taking the bail; they are to be
    1-9  governed in the exercise of this discretion by the Constitution and
   1-10  by the following rules:
   1-11              1.  The bail shall be sufficiently high to give
   1-12  reasonable assurance that the undertaking will be complied with.
   1-13              2.  The power to require bail is not to be so used as
   1-14  to make it an instrument of oppression.
   1-15              3.  The nature of the offense and the circumstances
   1-16  under which it was committed are to be considered.
   1-17              4.  The ability to make bail is to be regarded, and
   1-18  proof may be taken upon this point.
   1-19              5.  The future safety of a victim of the alleged
   1-20  offense and the community shall <may> be considered.
   1-21        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   1-22        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-23  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-24  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
    2-1  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-2  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.