By Ratliff                                       S.B. No. 299

      75R2437 JMM-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the date for a hearing on an application for a

 1-3     protective order.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 71.09(d), Family Code, is amended to read

 1-6     as follows:

 1-7           (d)  A prosecuting attorney in a county with a population of

 1-8     more than 1.5 million or in a county in a judicial district that is

 1-9     composed of more than one county may request that a hearing under

1-10     Subsection (a) [of this section] take place not later than 20 days

1-11     after the date the application is filed or that a hearing

1-12     rescheduled under Subsection (c) [of this section] take place not

1-13     later than 20 days after the date on which the request is made.

1-14     The prosecuting attorney may make a request under this subsection

1-15     on a case-by-case basis or to all the courts in the county for all

1-16     cases under this chapter.  A court shall grant the request of a

1-17     prosecuting attorney under this subsection.

1-18           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-19     applies to an application for a protective order made on or after

1-20     that date.  An application for a protective order made before the

1-21     effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the

1-22     date the application was made, and the former law is continued in

1-23     effect for 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.