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.