1-1  By:  Stiles (Senate Sponsor - West)                    H.B. No. 941
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House April 10, 1995;
    1-3  April 11, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
    1-4  Criminal Justice; May 11, 1995, reported favorably by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 11, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the service and return of a subpoena in a criminal
    1-9  proceeding.
   1-10        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-11        SECTION 1.  Article 24.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
   1-12  amended to read as follows:
   1-13        Art. 24.04.  SERVICE AND RETURN OF SUBPOENA.  (a)  A subpoena
   1-14  is served by:
   1-15              (1)  reading the subpoena <same> in the hearing of the
   1-16  witness;
   1-17              (2)  <or by> delivering a copy of the subpoena to the
   1-18  witness; or
   1-19              (3)  mailing a copy of the subpoena by certified mail,
   1-20  return receipt requested, to the last known address of the witness
   1-21  unless:
   1-22                    (A)  the applicant for the subpoena requests in
   1-23  writing that the subpoena not be served by certified mail; or
   1-24                    (B)  the proceeding for which the witness is
   1-25  being subpoenaed is set to begin within seven business days after
   1-26  the date the subpoena would be mailed.
   1-27        (b)  The officer having the subpoena shall make due return
   1-28  thereof, showing the time and manner of service, if served under
   1-29  Subsection (a)(1) or (2) of this article, or the return receipt, if
   1-30  served under Subsection (a)(3) of this article.  If the subpoena
   1-31  is <and if> not served, the officer <he> shall show in his return
   1-32  the cause of his failure to serve it.  If a mailed subpoena is
   1-33  returned undelivered, the officer shall use due diligence to locate
   1-34  and serve the witness.  If <; and if> the witness could not be
   1-35  found, the officer <he> shall state the diligence he has used to
   1-36  find him, and what information he has as to the whereabouts of the
   1-37  witness.
   1-38        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-39  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-40  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-41  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-42  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-43  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-44  passage, and it is so enacted.
   1-45                               * * * * *