By Swinford                                           H.B. No. 1974
         76R7748 JD-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to appeals of convictions obtained in justice courts and
 1-3     municipal courts.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 44, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-6     amended by adding Article 44.21 to read as follows:
 1-7           Art. 44.21.  DEFERRED ADJUDICATION, DEFERRAL OF FINAL
 1-8     DISPOSITION, OR DISMISSAL OF CHARGE ON APPEAL.  In an appeal from a
 1-9     justice court or municipal court, including a municipal court of
1-10     record, the county court may not grant the defendant a deferred
1-11     adjudication, defer the final disposition of the defendant's case,
1-12     or dismiss the charge under Subchapter B, Chapter 543,
1-13     Transportation Code.
1-14           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.  The
1-15     change in law made by this Act applies only to an appeal from a
1-16     justice court or a municipal court that is perfected on or after
1-17     September 1, 1999.   An appeal from a justice court or a municipal
1-18     court that is perfected before September 1, 1999, is governed by
1-19     the law in effect on the date the appeal was perfected, and the
1-20     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-21           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-1     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.