By Tillery H.B. No. 2244
75R7045 KEL-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a defendant's waiver of the right to object to a
1-3 defective, erroneous, or irregular complaint.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article 1.14(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (b) If the defendant does not object to a defect, error, or
1-8 irregularity of form or substance in an indictment, [or]
1-9 information, or complaint before the date on which the trial on the
1-10 merits commences, the defendant [he] waives and forfeits the right
1-11 to object to the defect, error, or irregularity and [he] may not
1-12 raise the objection on appeal or in any other postconviction
1-13 proceeding. Nothing in this article prohibits a trial court from
1-14 requiring that an objection to an indictment, [or] information, or
1-15 complaint be made at an earlier time in compliance with Article
1-16 28.01 [of this code].
1-17 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997. The
1-18 change in law made by this Act applies only to the right of a
1-19 defendant to object to a complaint filed on or after September 1,
1-20 1997. The right of a defendant to object to a complaint filed
1-21 before September 1, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the
1-22 complaint was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for
1-23 that purpose.
1-24 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.