By Longoria                                             H.B. No. 86

      75R1353 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the withdrawal of certain misdemeanor arrest warrants

 1-3     and the dismissal of prosecutions arising from the issuance of

 1-4     those warrants.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Chapter 32, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

 1-7     amended by adding Article 32.03 to read as follows:

 1-8           Art. 32.03.  DISMISSAL OF CERTAIN MISDEMEANORS.  (a)  A judge

 1-9     periodically may request the clerk serving the court to provide to

1-10     the judge  a list showing each misdemeanor arrest warrant issued by

1-11     the court:

1-12                 (1)  that is more than five years old;

1-13                 (2)  for which there is no record of a subsequent

1-14     conviction, acquittal, or dismissal of a prosecution of the

1-15     individual named in  the warrant arising from the issuance of the

1-16     warrant; and

1-17                 (3)  for which there is no record of an arrest of the

1-18     individual named in the warrant on any offense alleged to have been

1-19     committed after the offense for which the warrant was issued.

1-20           (b)  The judge on the judge's own motion, the motion of the

1-21     clerk of the court, or the motion of the attorney representing the

1-22     state  in the prosecution of misdemeanors may withdraw any warrant

1-23     described by Subsection (a) and dismiss any prosecution arising

1-24     from the warrant.

 2-1           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

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

 2-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-6     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-7     passage, and it is so enacted.