By Hinojosa                                           H.B. No. 2188
         76R7690 PEP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the procedure for accepting a plea of guilty or nolo
 1-3     contendere from certain misdemeanants.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 45.31, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Art. 45.31.  DEFENDANT'S PLEA [DEFENDANT SHALL PLEAD]. (a)
 1-8     After the jury is impaneled, or  after the defendant has waived
 1-9     trial by jury, the defendant may plead guilty or not guilty or may
1-10     enter a plea of nolo contendere, or the special plea to which
1-11     reference is made [named] in [the succeeding] Article 45.32.
1-12           (b)  Before accepting a plea of guilty or a plea of nolo
1-13     contendere, the justice shall inform the defendant orally or in
1-14     writing of:
1-15                 (1)  the range of punishment attached to the offense;
1-16                 (2)  the fact that any recommendation of the
1-17     prosecuting attorney is not binding on the justice; and
1-18                 (3)  possible consequences of the plea, including, as
1-19     applicable, deportation, the exclusion from admission to this
1-20     country, or the denial of naturalization under federal law.
1-21           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
1-22     to a defendant who is charged with committing a misdemeanor offense
1-23     on or after the effective date of this Act.  A defendant who is
1-24     charged with committing a misdemeanor offense before the effective
 2-1     date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense
 2-2     was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
 2-3     purpose.  For purposes of this section, an offense was committed
 2-4     before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
 2-5     occurred before that date.
 2-6           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-7           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.