By Rodriguez                                          H.B. No. 2695
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the exemption from jury service for certain volunteer
    1-3  fire fighters.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 62.106, Government code, is amended to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 62.106.  Exemption From Jury Service.  (a)  A person
    1-8  qualified to serve as a petit juror may establish an exemption from
    1-9  jury service if he:
   1-10              (1)  is over 65 years of age;
   1-11              (2)  has legal custody of a child or children younger
   1-12  than 10 years of age and his service on the jury requires leaving
   1-13  the child or children without adequate supervision;
   1-14              (3)  is a student of a public or private secondary
   1-15  school;
   1-16              (4)  is a person enrolled and in actual attendance at
   1-17  an institution of higher education;
   1-18              (5)  is an officer or an employee of the senate, the
   1-19  house of representatives, or any department, commission, board,
   1-20  office, or other agency in the legislative branch of state
   1-21  government;
   1-22              (6)  is summoned for service in a county with a
   1-23  population of at least 200,000, unless that county uses a jury plan
    2-1  under Section 62.011 and the period authorized under Section
    2-2  62.011(b)(6) exceeds two years, and he has served as a petit juror
    2-3  in the county during the 24-month period preceding the date he is
    2-4  to appear for jury service; <or>
    2-5              (7)  is the primary caretaker of a person who is an
    2-6  invalid unable to care for himself; or
    2-7              (8)  is a certified volunteer fire fighter and an
    2-8  active member of an organized volunteer fire department.
    2-9        (b)  In this section:
   2-10              (1)  "Organized volunteer fire department" means a fire
   2-11  fighting unit that:
   2-12                    (A)  consists of 20 or more active members;
   2-13                    (B)  renders fire fighting services without
   2-14  remuneration;
   2-15                    (C)  is recognized by the State Firemen's and
   2-16  Fire Marshals' Association of Texas or the Texas Commission on Fire
   2-17  Protection; and
   2-18                    (D)  each month holds two or more drills, each of
   2-19  which is two or more hours long and is attended by a majority of
   2-20  the active members of the unit.
   2-21              (2)  "Certified volunteer fire fighter" means a person
   2-22  who holds at a minimum basic fire fighter certification issued by
   2-23  the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas or the
   2-24  Texas Commission on Fire Protection.
   2-25        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-5  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-6  passage, and it is so enacted.