By Dunnam                                             H.B. No. 2921
         76R8959 GWK-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the imposition of community supervision on a defendant
 1-3     convicted of a state jail felony.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 15(a), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
 1-6     Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)(1)  On conviction of a state jail felony punished under
 1-8     Section 12.35(a), Penal Code, the judge may suspend the imposition
 1-9     of the  sentence and place the defendant on community supervision
1-10     or may order the sentence to be executed.  The judge may suspend in
1-11     whole or in part the imposition of any fine imposed on conviction.
1-12                 (2)  A jury that imposes confinement under Section
1-13     12.35(a), Penal Code, as punishment for a state jail felony may
1-14     recommend to the judge that the judge suspend the imposition of the
1-15     sentence and place the defendant on community supervision.  A judge
1-16     shall suspend the imposition of the sentence and place the
1-17     defendant on community supervision if the jury makes that
1-18     recommendation in the verdict.  A defendant is eligible for
1-19     community supervision under this subsection only if before the
1-20     trial begins the defendant files a written sworn motion with the
1-21     judge that the defendant has not previously been convicted of a
1-22     felony in this or any other state and the jury enters in the
1-23     verdict a finding that the information in the defendant's motion is
1-24     true.
 2-1           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
 2-2     to the trial of a state jail felony that begins on or after the
 2-3     effective date of this Act.  The trial of a state jail felony that
 2-4     begins before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law
 2-5     in effect when the trial began, and the former law is continued in
 2-6     effect for that purpose.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-8           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.