By Hill                                               H.B. No. 1754
         76R4465 DB-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to summoning prospective jurors to justice court.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 62.016(e), Government Code, is amended to
 1-5     read as follows:
 1-6           (e)  When impaneled, the prospective jurors constitute a
 1-7     general jury panel for service as jurors in all justice, county,
 1-8     and district courts in the county and shall be used interchangeably
 1-9     in all of those courts.  A county may summon jurors chosen for
1-10     service under this section to the justice court in the manner
1-11     prescribed by Section  62.412.
1-12           SECTION 2.  Subchapter E, Chapter 62, Government Code, is
1-13     amended by adding Section 62.412 to read as follows:
1-14           Sec. 62.412.  SUMMONING PROSPECTIVE JURORS DIRECTLY TO
1-15     JUSTICE COURT.  (a)  A county that uses interchangeable juries
1-16     under Section 62.016 may summon a prospective juror to report
1-17     directly to a justice court in the precinct in which that person
1-18     resides.
1-19           (b)  The justice of the peace of the justice court to which
1-20     prospective jurors are summoned for jury service under this section
1-21     shall hear the excuses of the prospective jurors and swear them in
1-22     for jury service.
1-23           (c)  A justice of the peace may command the sheriff or
1-24     constable to immediately summon additional persons for jury service
 2-1     in the justice court if the number of qualified jurors, including
 2-2     persons summoned under Section 62.016, is less than the number
 2-3     necessary for the justice court to conduct its proceedings.
 2-4           SECTION 3.  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,
 2-9     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-10     passage, and it is so enacted.