By Sadler                                             H.B. No. 1497
       74R1190 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to charging a defendant by indictment or information in
    1-3  the prosecution of certain state jail felonies.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Article 1.05, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Art. 1.05.  Rights of accused.  In all criminal prosecutions
    1-8  the accused shall have a speedy public trial by an impartial jury.
    1-9  He shall have the right to demand the nature and cause of the
   1-10  accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof.  He shall not
   1-11  be compelled to give evidence against himself.  He shall have the
   1-12  right of being heard by himself, or counsel, or both; shall be
   1-13  confronted with the witnesses against him, and shall have
   1-14  compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.  No person
   1-15  shall be held to answer for a felony other than an offense punished
   1-16  as a state jail felony unless on indictment of a grand jury.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  Article 25.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
   1-18  amended to read as follows:
   1-19        Art. 25.01.  In felony.  In every case of felony in which an
   1-20  indictment has been presented, when the accused is in custody, or
   1-21  as soon as he may be arrested, the clerk of the court where the
   1-22  <an> indictment has been presented shall immediately make a
   1-23  certified copy of the same, and deliver such copy to the sheriff,
   1-24  together with a writ directed to such sheriff, commanding him
    2-1  forthwith to deliver such certified copy to the accused.
    2-2        SECTION 3.  Article 25.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    2-3  amended to read as follows:
    2-4        Art. 25.04.  In misdemeanor OR STATE JAIL FELONY.  In
    2-5  misdemeanors and offenses punished as state jail felonies, it shall
    2-6  not be necessary before trial to furnish the accused with a copy of
    2-7  the indictment or information; but he or his counsel may demand a
    2-8  copy, which shall be given as early as possible.
    2-9        SECTION 4.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
   2-10  only to the prosecution of a state jail felony offense committed on
   2-11  or after the effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this
   2-12  section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this
   2-13  Act if any element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
   2-14        (b)  The prosecution of a state jail felony offense committed
   2-15  before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
   2-16  effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is
   2-17  continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-18        SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-19        SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.