By Stiles                                              H.B. No. 941
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the service and return of a subpoena in a criminal
    1-3  proceeding.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 24.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 24.04.  SERVICE AND RETURN OF SUBPOENA.  (a)  A subpoena
    1-8  is served by:
    1-9              (1)  reading the subpoena <same> in the hearing of the
   1-10  witness;
   1-11              (2)  <or by> delivering a copy of the subpoena to the
   1-12  witness; or
   1-13              (3)  mailing a copy of the subpoena by certified mail,
   1-14  return receipt requested, to the last known address of the witness
   1-15  unless:
   1-16                    (A)  the applicant for the subpoena requests in
   1-17  writing that the subpoena not be served by certified mail; or
   1-18                    (B)  the proceeding for which the witness is
   1-19  being subpoenaed is set to begin within seven business days after
   1-20  the date the subpoena would be mailed.
   1-21        (b)  The officer having the subpoena shall make due return
   1-22  thereof, showing the time and manner of service, if served under
   1-23  Subsection (a)(1) or (2) of this article, or the return receipt, if
   1-24  served under Subsection (a)(3) of this article.  If the subpoena
    2-1  is <and if> not served, the officer <he> shall show in his return
    2-2  the cause of his failure to serve it.  If a mailed subpoena is
    2-3  returned undelivered, the officer shall use due diligence to locate
    2-4  and serve the witness.  If <; and if> the witness could not be
    2-5  found, the officer <he> shall state the diligence he has used to
    2-6  find him, and what information he has as to the whereabouts of the
    2-7  witness.
    2-8        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-13  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-14  passage, and it is so enacted.