74R10793 GWK-F
          By Place                                              H.B. No. 1395
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1395:
          By Place                                          C.S.H.B. No. 1395
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the dismissal of prosecutions of certain misdemeanor
    1-3  traffic offenses punishable by fine only.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 45.23, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 45.23.  To Try Cause Without Delay; Dismissals.  (a)
    1-8  When the defendant is brought before the justice or municipal court
    1-9  judge, he shall proceed to try the cause without delay, unless good
   1-10  ground be shown for a postponement thereof, in which case he may
   1-11  postpone the trial to any time not longer than five days, and may,
   1-12  if he deem proper, require the defendant to give bail for his
   1-13  appearance; and if, when required, he fails to give bail, he shall
   1-14  be kept in custody until the final determination of the cause.
   1-15        (b)  A justice or municipal court judge may dismiss the
   1-16  prosecution of an offense involving a violation of traffic law if:
   1-17              (1)  the justice or the judge, not later than the fifth
   1-18  day before the cause is set for trial, gives notice of the trial
   1-19  personally or by first class mail to:
   1-20                    (A)  the prosecuting attorney who represents the
   1-21  state in the justice court or municipal court, as appropriate; or
   1-22                    (B)  if no prosecuting attorney is assigned to
   1-23  prosecute cases in the justice court or the municipal court, the
   1-24  district or county attorney if the case is pending in justice court
    2-1  or to the city attorney if the case is pending in municipal court;
    2-2  and
    2-3              (2)  when the justice or the judge of the municipal
    2-4  court calls  the cause to trial, an attorney representing the state
    2-5  does not appear and announce the attorney's intention to prosecute
    2-6  the cause.
    2-7        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-8  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-9  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-10  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-11  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-12  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-13  passage, and it is so enacted.