By Thompson                                     H.B. No. 1260

      75R5655 KEL-D                           

                                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

1-24     of Criminal Justice.

 2-1           SECTION 2.  The state bar shall include information on the

 2-2     costs of punishment in criminal cases, as required by Section

 2-3     23.202, Government Code, as amended by this Act, in the first

 2-4     annual update of the uniform jury handbook that is completed by the

 2-5     state bar after September 1, 1997.

 2-6           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-7     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-11     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-12     passage, and it is so enacted.