74R12709 GWK-D
By Puente H.B. No. 3044
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3044:
By Solis C.S.H.B. No. 3044
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to informing the jury in a criminal case of the costs of
1-3 sanctions available to the jury.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 23.202, Government Code, is amended by
1-6 amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 (a) The state bar shall publish a uniform jury handbook
1-9 that:
1-10 (1) informs jurors in lay terminology of the duties
1-11 and responsibilities of a juror;
1-12 (2) informs jurors of the relative monthly costs to
1-13 the state for imposing confinement as punishment on conviction of a
1-14 felony;
1-15 (3) explains basic trial procedures and legal
1-16 terminology; and
1-17 (4) <(3)> provides other practical information
1-18 relating to jury service.
1-19 (c) The state bar, after consultation with the comptroller's
1-20 office, the Legislative Budget Board, and the Criminal Justice
1-21 Policy Council, shall determine the average monthly costs of
1-22 confining an individual convicted of a felony punishable by
1-23 confinement in the institutional division of the Texas Department
2-1 of Criminal Justice.
2-2 SECTION 2. The state bar shall include information on the
2-3 costs of punishment in criminal cases, as required by Section
2-4 23.202, Government Code, as amended by this Act, in the first
2-5 annual update of the uniform jury handbook that is completed by the
2-6 state bar after September 1, 1995.
2-7 SECTION 3. 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.