By:  Ratliff                                           S.B. No. 299

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the date for a hearing on an application for a

 1-2     protective order.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (d), Section 71.09, Family Code, is

 1-5     amended to read as follows:

 1-6           (d)  A prosecuting attorney in a county with a population of

 1-7     more than 1.5 million or in a county in a judicial district that is

 1-8     composed of more than one county may request that a hearing under

 1-9     Subsection (a) [of this section] take place not later than 20 days

1-10     after the date the application is filed or that a hearing

1-11     rescheduled under Subsection (c) [of this section] take place not

1-12     later than 20 days after the date on which the request is made.

1-13     The prosecuting attorney may make a request under this subsection

1-14     on a case-by-case basis or to all the courts in the county for all

1-15     cases under this chapter.  A court shall grant the request of a

1-16     prosecuting attorney under this subsection.

1-17           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-18     applies to an application for a protective order made on or after

1-19     that date.  An application for a protective order made before the

1-20     effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the

1-21     date the application was made, and the former law is continued in

1-22     effect for that purpose.

1-23           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.