By Keel                                               H.B. No. 1246
         76R5578 GWK-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to making arrest warrants and certain affidavits made in
 1-3     connection with the issuance of arrest warrants available for
 1-4     public inspection.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Article 15.26, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-7     amended to read as follows:
 1-8           Art. 15.26.  Authority to Arrest Must be Made Known.  In
 1-9     executing a warrant of arrest, it shall always be made known to the
1-10     accused under what authority the arrest is made.  The warrant shall
1-11     be executed by the arrest of the defendant.  The officer need not
1-12     have the warrant in his possession at the time of the arrest,
1-13     provided the warrant was issued under the provisions of this Code,
1-14     but upon request he shall show the warrant, and any affidavit filed
1-15     with the magistrate and related to the issuance of the warrant, to
1-16     the defendant as soon as possible.  If the officer does not have
1-17     the warrant in his possession at the time of arrest he shall then
1-18     inform the defendant of the offense charged and of the fact that a
1-19     warrant has been issued.  The arrest warrant, and any affidavit
1-20     filed with the magistrate and related to the issuance of the
1-21     warrant, is public information beginning immediately when the
1-22     warrant is executed, and the magistrate's clerk and the attorney
1-23     representing the state in the prosecution of the case shall make a
1-24     copy of the warrant and the affidavit available in the clerk's or
 2-1     attorney's office during normal business hours.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-7     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-8     passage, and it is so enacted.