By Wilson                                               H.B. No. 54

      75R351 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the eligibility of illegal aliens for community

 1-3     supervision.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

 1-6     amended by adding Section 3h to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 3h.  ILLEGAL ALIENS:  ELIGIBILITY FOR COMMUNITY

 1-8     SUPERVISION.  (a)  A defendant is eligible for community

 1-9     supervision under Section 3, 4, or 5 only if before the voir dire

1-10     examination begins the defendant files a written sworn motion that

1-11     the defendant is not an illegal alien, and the trier of fact enters

1-12     in the verdict a finding that the information in the defendant's

1-13     motion is true.

1-14           (b)  The defendant has the burden of proving by a

1-15     preponderance of the evidence that the defendant is not an illegal

1-16     alien.

1-17           (c)  In this section, "illegal alien" means an individual

1-18     who:

1-19                 (1)  entered the United States without inspection or at

1-20     any time or place other than as designated by the United States

1-21     attorney general;

1-22                 (2)  was admitted as a nonimmigrant and, before the

1-23     date of the commission of the offense for which the defendant is

1-24     being tried, failed to:

 2-1                       (A)  maintain the nonimmigrant status under which

 2-2     the defendant was admitted or to which the status was changed under

 2-3     Section 248, Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1258); or

 2-4                       (B)  comply with the condition of the defendant's

 2-5     alien status; or

 2-6                 (3)  is a national of Cuba who:

 2-7                       (A)  was allowed by the attorney general to come

 2-8     to the United States in 1980; and

 2-9                       (B)  at the time of the arrival and at the time

2-10     of the commission of the offense for which the defendant is being

2-11     tried was not an alien lawfully admitted to the United States:

2-12                             (i)  for permanent or temporary residence;

2-13     or

2-14                             (ii)  under the terms of an immigrant visa

2-15     or a nonimmigrant visa issued under the laws of the United States.

2-16           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

2-17     applies to any prosecution in which the voir dire examination

2-18     begins after that date, regardless of whether the offense being

2-19     prosecuted is committed before, on, or after the effective date of

2-20     this Act.

2-21           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.