By Harris                                              S.B. No. 136
         76R3609 JMC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to donations of juror reimbursements.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 61.003, Government Code, is amended to
 1-5     read as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 61.003.  DONATION OF REIMBURSEMENT.  (a)  Each
 1-7     prospective juror reporting for jury service shall be personally
 1-8     provided a form letter that when signed by the prospective juror
 1-9     directs the county treasurer to donate all of the prospective
1-10     juror's reimbursement for jury service to:
1-11                 (1)  the compensation to victims of crime fund under
1-12     Subchapter B, Chapter 56, Code of Criminal Procedure;
1-13                 (2)  the child welfare board of the county appointed
1-14     under Section 264.005, Family Code, or, if the county does not have
1-15     a child welfare board, the child welfare service fund under Chapter
1-16     264, Family Code;
1-17                 (3)  any program selected by the commissioners court
1-18     that is operated by a public or private nonprofit organization and
1-19     that provides shelter and services to victims of family violence;
1-20     or
1-21                 (4)  any other program approved by the commissioners
1-22     court of the county.
1-23           (b)  The county treasurer shall collect each form letter
1-24     directing the county treasurer to donate a prospective juror's
 2-1     reimbursement for jury service.
 2-2           (c)  The county treasurer shall:
 2-3                 (1)  send all donations made under Subsection (a)(1) to
 2-4     the comptroller, at the time and in the manner prescribed by the
 2-5     attorney general, for deposit to the credit of the compensation to
 2-6     victims of crime fund;
 2-7                 (2)  deposit donations made to the county child welfare
 2-8     board under Subsection (a)(2) in a fund established by the county
 2-9     to be used by the  child welfare board in a manner authorized by
2-10     the commissioners court of the county;
2-11                 (3)  send all donations made to the child welfare
2-12     service fund under Subsection (a)(2) to the comptroller for deposit
2-13     to the credit of the child welfare service fund in the state
2-14     treasury; and
2-15                 (4) [(3)]  send all donations made under Subsection
2-16     (a)(3) or (a)(4) directly to the program specified on the form
2-17     letter signed by the prospective juror.
2-18           (d) [(c)]  Notwithstanding this section [Subsections (a) and
2-19     (b)], a juror reimbursement donation program established before
2-20     January 1, 1995, may solicit juror donations and provide all funds
2-21     collected in the name of that program to the charities served by
2-22     that program on January 1, 1995.
2-23           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-24     applies only to donations from jurors appearing in response to a
2-25     summons issued on or after that date.
2-26           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.