By Wise                                                H.B. No. 297
         76R2297 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the competency of an individual to testify in a
 1-3     criminal case.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 38, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-6     amended by adding Article 38.070 to read as follows:
 1-7           Art. 38.070.  COMPETENCY OF INDIVIDUAL TO TESTIFY.  (a)  An
 1-8     individual is presumed competent to be a witness in a criminal
 1-9     proceeding unless the individual lacks sufficient mental capacity
1-10     to observe, record, recollect, and narrate matters or does not
1-11     understand the duty to tell the truth.
1-12           (b)  If the competency of a witness is an issue, the judge
1-13     may examine the witness to determine whether the individual
1-14     possesses the requisite mental capacity and understands the duty to
1-15     tell the truth.
1-16           SECTION 2.  Under the terms of Section 22.109(b), Government
1-17     Code, Rule 601, Texas Rules of Evidence, is disapproved, but only
1-18     to the extent that Rule 601 applies to criminal proceedings.
1-19           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-20           SECTION 4.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-21     only to prosecution for an offense committed on or after the
1-22     effective date of this Act.  For purposes of this section, an
1-23     offense is committed before the effective date of this Act if any
1-24     element of the offense occurs before that date.
 2-1           (b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
 2-2     Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
 2-3     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-4           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-5     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-6     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-7     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-8     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.