By Coleman                                            H.B. No. 1752
         76R2900 PEP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the compensation of certain private investigators and
 1-3     witnesses who are retained by appointed counsel.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 26.05, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-6     amended by adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
 1-7           (f)  Reimbursement of expenses incurred for purposes of
 1-8     investigation or expert testimony may be paid directly to a private
 1-9     investigator licensed under the Private Investigators and Private
1-10     Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil
1-11     Statutes) or to an expert witness in the manner designated by
1-12     appointed counsel and approved by the court.
1-13           SECTION 2.  Article 26.052, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-14     amended by amending Subsections (g) and (l) to read as follows:
1-15           (g)  The court shall grant the request for advance payment of
1-16     expenses in whole or in part if the request is reasonable.  If the
1-17     court denies in whole or in part the request for expenses, the
1-18     court shall:
1-19                 (1)  state the reasons for the denial in writing,
1-20     including any ground on which the court relies for a determination
1-21     that the amount requested is unreasonable;
1-22                 (2)  attach the denial to the confidential request; and
1-23                 (3)  submit the request and denial as a sealed exhibit
1-24     to the record.
 2-1           (l)  An attorney appointed under this article to represent a
 2-2     defendant at trial or on direct appeal is compensated as provided
 2-3     by Article 26.05 from county funds.  Advance payment of expenses
 2-4     anticipated or reimbursement of expenses incurred for purposes of
 2-5     investigation or expert testimony may be paid directly to a private
 2-6     investigator licensed under the Private Investigators and Private
 2-7     Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil
 2-8     Statutes) or to an expert witness in the manner designated by
 2-9     appointed counsel and approved by the court.
2-10           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-11           SECTION 4.  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.