By Garcia H.B. No. 2131
76R8011 JMC-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the disqualification of a judge or justice in a
1-3 criminal case.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Article 30.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 Art. 30.01. CAUSES WHICH DISQUALIFY. (a) No judge or
1-8 justice of the peace shall sit in any case where:
1-9 (1) the judge or justice [he] may be the party
1-10 injured;
1-11 (2) the judge or justice [, or where he] has been of
1-12 counsel for the State or the accused;
1-13 (3) [, or where] the accused or the party injured may
1-14 be connected with the judge or justice [him] by consanguinity or
1-15 affinity within the third degree, as determined under Chapter 573,
1-16 Government Code; or
1-17 (4) the judge or justice has accepted a political
1-18 contribution, as defined by Section 251.001, Election Code, from a
1-19 party or an attorney of record in the case or the attorney's law
1-20 firm.
1-21 (b) If a party files a motion to disqualify under this
1-22 article and the judge or justice of the peace does not grant the
1-23 motion, the judge or justice shall follow the same procedure in
1-24 disposing of the motion as a motion for recusal or disqualification
2-1 in a civil case under Rule 18a, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.
2-2 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-3 applies to all proceedings occurring on or after that date without
2-4 regard to whether the trial of the offense began before, on, or
2-5 after the effective date of this Act.
2-6 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.