BILL ANALYSIS



C.S.H.B. 1760
By: R. Lewis
March 20, 1995
Committee Report (Substituted)


BACKGROUND

Court budgets are suffering undue strain due to the current status
of the law regarding the payment of jury fees.  Defense attorneys
can unintentionally add to the costs incurred by courts through the
practice of plea bargaining.  When a jury has been impaneled for
trial and the defendant pleads to a lesser charge, the court is
forced to absorb the cost.  While the judicial process necessitates
plea bargains, the courts should not be responsible for financing
them.  

Deferred adjudication is another instance in which the courts are
forced to incur costs for juries that are never utilized.  The law
only requires payment of jury fees upon conviction in a justice 
county, district court or county court at law.

In civil court, jury trials are often requested for the sole
purpose of delaying the process.  When a litigant does not show up
for a docket call, the court has still incurred the cost for
impaneling the jury.  It is this kind of abuse of the system that
must be deterred so that courts are no longer subject to the
financial strain that they now face. 

PURPOSE

The purpose of this bill is to amend the law so that failure to
appear in civil and criminal court, and failure to withdraw a
request for jury trial more than 24 hours before the docket call in
criminal court, carry a fee requirement upon completion of a case
or conviction of a defendant.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly
grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer,
department, agency or institution.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

     Section 1. Amends Chapter 45, Code of Criminal Procedure, by
adding Article 45.251 to read that a justice or municipal court may
order a party who demands a jury trial and fails to appear to pay
the costs incurred for impaneling the jury. The justice or
municipal court may release the party from the obligation to pay
the costs if good cause is shown. An order under this section may
be enforced by contempt.

     Section 2.  Amends Article 102.004 (a), Code of Criminal
Procedure, to state that a defendant who requests a jury trial, and
does not withdraw the request earlier than 24 hours prior to the
docket call, must remit a $3 payment for the costs incurred by
impaneling of the jury if the defendant is convicted of the offense
or final disposition of the defendant's case is deferred. 

     Section 3.  Amends Chapter 30, Civil Practices and Remedies
Code, to state that
     (a) a party who fails to appear for a trial that it requested
can be ordered to pay the costs for impaneling the jury;
     (b) the justice court may release a party from this obligation
for good cause;
     (c) a party ordered to pay a fee as ordered by this section is
subject to Section 21.002 (c), Government Code, as it relates to
contempt.

     Section 4.  Repeals Section 102.003, Code of Criminal
Procedure.

     Section 5.  Effective date, September 1, 1995.

     Section 6.  (a) The change made to the law by Sections 2 and
4 of this Act applies only to a fee imposed on deferred disposition
or on conviction for an offense committed on or after the effective
date of this Act. A fee imposed on deferred dispostion or on
conviction for an offense committed before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect when the offense was
committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.

     (b)  The changes made to the law by Section 1 and 3 of this
Act apply only to justice or municipal court proceedings that
commence after the effective date of this Act.  Any proceedings
that commence prior to September 1, 1995 will be governed by
current law.

     Section 7.  Emergency clause.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The committee substitute contains the same language as the original
bill and adds a section amending Chapter 45, Code of Criminal
Procedure, by adding Article 45.251 to allow a justice or municipal
court to order a party that demands a jury trial and fails to
appear for the trial to pay for the costs for impaneling the jury.
The justice or municipal court may release the party from paying
the costs if good cause is shown. An order issued under this
section may be enforced by contempt.

The original bill stated that changes made in the law by Sections
1 and 3 apply only to fees imposed on conviction for an offense
committed on or after the effective date of the Act. The committee
substitute states that changes made in the law by Sections 2 and 4
(Sections 1 and 3 in the original bill) apply to fees imposed on
deferred disposition and on convictions for an offense committed on 
or after the effective date of the Act.

The original bill stated that the change made in the law by Section
2 apply only to a proceeding that is commenced in a justice court
on or after the effective date of the Act. The committee substitute
states that the change made in the law by Section 1 (the section
added to the committee substitute) and Section 3 (Section 2 in the
original bill) apply to proceedings commenced in a justice or
municipal court on or after the effective date of the Act.


SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION

HB 1760 was considered by the Committee on County Affairs in public
hearing on 3/15/95. Representative R. Lewis opened. Sandy Prindle,
representing himself and The Justices of the Peace and Constables
Association of Texas, testified for HB 1760. The Committee on
County Affairs considered a complete committee substitute for HB
1760. The substitute was adopted without objection. Representative
R. Lewis closed. HB 1760 was reported favorably, as substituted,
with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed by the
record vote of 8 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, 1 absent.