By Danburg H.B. No. 333
75R1283 SAW-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to voter registration lists used for jury wheels.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 62.001(a), (d), and (e), Government
1-5 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) The jury wheel must be reconstituted by using, as the
1-7 source:
1-8 (1) except as provided by Subsection (d), the names of
1-9 all persons on the current voter registration lists from all the
1-10 precincts in the county; and
1-11 (2) all names on a current list to be furnished by the
1-12 Department of Public Safety, showing the citizens of the county who
1-13 hold a valid Texas driver's license and the citizens of the county,
1-14 other than persons who are disqualified from jury service, who hold
1-15 a valid personal identification card or certificate issued by the
1-16 department.
1-17 (d) The list required by Subsection (c):
1-18 (1) must exclude the names of convicted felons and the
1-19 names of persons exempt from jury service under Sections 62.108 and
1-20 62.109; and
1-21 (2) may exclude, at the option of the voter registrar
1-22 of each county, the names of persons on the suspense list
1-23 maintained under Section 15.081, Election Code.
1-24 (e) The voter registrar shall send [a list of the names of
2-1 persons excluded] to the secretary of state with the list required
2-2 by Subsection (c):
2-3 (1) a list of the names of persons excluded under
2-4 Subsection (d)(1); and
2-5 (2) a list of the names of persons excluded under
2-6 Subsection (d)(2) unless the registrar has delivered a copy of the
2-7 suspense list to the secretary of state under Section 15.083,
2-8 Election Code.
2-9 SECTION 2. Section 62.002(a), Government Code, is amended to
2-10 read as follows:
2-11 (a) The officials or their deputies who reconstitute the
2-12 jury wheel shall write on a separate jury wheel card of uniform
2-13 size and color the name and, if possible, the post office address
2-14 of each prospective juror that resides in the county and whose name
2-15 appears on the current combined lists used under Section 62.001.
2-16 The name of each prospective juror may appear on only one card.
2-17 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
2-18 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.