By Solomons                                           H.B. No. 1878
       74R6470 DLF-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to costs of empaneling a jury.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Chapter 30, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
    1-5  amended by adding Section 30.007 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 30.007.  COSTS OF EMPANELING JURY.  (a)  Unless
    1-7  otherwise agreed by all parties to an action, the party that
    1-8  requests a jury trial is responsible for the costs of empaneling
    1-9  the jury.  The court shall assess the costs against that party
   1-10  after the jury reaches a verdict, or, in the case of a trial that
   1-11  terminates before the jury reaches a verdict, at the time the trial
   1-12  terminates.
   1-13        (b)  Costs assessed under this section shall be deposited to
   1-14  the credit of the general fund of the county in which the court is
   1-15  located.
   1-16        (c)  This section applies only to an action in which a jury
   1-17  fee must be paid under Rule 216 or Rule 544, Texas Rules of Civil
   1-18  Procedure.  This section does not apply to a party that has filed
   1-19  an affidavit of inability to pay under Rule 145, Texas Rules of
   1-20  Civil Procedure.
   1-21        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   1-22  applies only to an action that is commenced on or after that date.
   1-23  An action that is commenced before the effective date of this Act
   1-24  is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
    2-1  effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
    2-2  that purpose.
    2-3        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.