By Place                                              H.B. No. 1395
       74R5495 GWK-F
                                 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.  When
    1-8  the defendant is brought before the justice, he shall proceed to
    1-9  try the cause without delay, unless good ground be shown for a
   1-10  postponement thereof, in which case he may postpone the trial to
   1-11  any time not longer than five days, and may, if he deem proper,
   1-12  require the defendant to give bail for his appearance; and if, when
   1-13  required, he fails to give bail, he shall be kept in custody until
   1-14  the final determination of the cause.  A justice for good cause
   1-15  shown may dismiss the prosecution of an offense involving a
   1-16  violation of a traffic law.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-22  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-23  passage, and it is so enacted.