By Carona S.B. No. 231
75R1291 MLS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to sources of names for the jury wheel.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 62.001(a) and (f), Government Code, are
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (a) The jury wheel must be reconstituted by using, as the
1-7 source:
1-8 (1) the names of all persons on the current voter
1-9 registration lists from all the precincts in the county; and
1-10 (2) all names on a current list to be furnished by the
1-11 Department of Public Safety, showing the citizens of the county
1-12 who:
1-13 (A) hold a valid Texas driver's license or [and
1-14 the citizens of the county, other than persons who are disqualified
1-15 from jury service, who hold] a valid personal identification card
1-16 or certificate issued by the department; and
1-17 (B) are not disqualified from jury service under
1-18 Section 62.102(1), (2), or (7).
1-19 (f) The Department of Public Safety shall furnish a list to
1-20 the secretary of state that shows the names required under
1-21 Subsection (a)(2) and that contains any of the information
1-22 enumerated in Subsection (c) that is available to the department,
1-23 including citizenship status and county of residence. The list
2-1 shall exclude the names of convicted felons and persons residing
2-2 outside the county. The department shall furnish the list on or
2-3 before the first Monday in October of each year.
2-4 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
2-5 applies only to lists furnished by the Department of Public Safety
2-6 on or after the effective date of this Act. Lists furnished by the
2-7 Department of Public Safety before the effective date of this Act
2-8 are governed by the law as it existed on the date the list was
2-9 furnished, and the former law is continued in effect for that
2-10 purpose.
2-11 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.