By Longoria                                             H.B. No. 73

      75R947 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the disqualification of a judge in a criminal case.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Article 30.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

 1-5     amended to read as follows:

 1-6           Art. 30.01.  CAUSES WHICH DISQUALIFY.  (a)  No judge or

 1-7     justice of the peace shall sit in any case where he may be the

 1-8     party injured, or where he has been of counsel for the State or the

 1-9     accused, or where the accused or the party injured may be connected

1-10     with him by consanguinity or affinity within the third degree, as

1-11     determined under Chapter 573, Government Code.

1-12           (b)  In addition to the grounds listed in Subsection (a) of

1-13     this article, a judge or justice of the peace shall disqualify

1-14     himself in any case in which:

1-15                 (1)  his impartiality might reasonably be questioned;

1-16                 (2)  he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a

1-17     party;

1-18                 (3)  he has personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary

1-19     facts concerning the case; or

1-20                 (4)  his spouse or a person connected with him or his

1-21     spouse within the first degree of consanguinity or affinity is an

1-22     attorney involved in the case.

1-23           (c)  If a party files a motion to disqualify under this

1-24     article, and the judge or justice of the peace does not grant the

 2-1     motion, the judge or justice of the peace shall follow the same

 2-2     procedure in disposing of the motion as a motion for recusal or

 2-3     disqualification in a civil case under Rule 18a, Texas Rules of

 2-4     Civil Procedure.

 2-5           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies

 2-6     only to the trial for an offense that commences on or after the

 2-7     effective date of this Act.

 2-8           (b)  The trial of an offense that commenced before the

 2-9     effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when

2-10     the trial began, and the former law is continued in effect for that

2-11     purpose.

2-12           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-13           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.