By:  Duncan                                            S.B. No. 216
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the disqualification of a person convicted of theft
 1-2     from selection or service as a grand juror.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Article 19.08, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           Art. 19.08.  QUALIFICATIONS.  No person shall be selected or
 1-7     serve as a grand juror who does not possess the following
 1-8     qualifications:
 1-9                 1.  He must be a citizen of the state, and of the
1-10     county in which he is to serve, and be qualified under the
1-11     Constitution and laws to vote in said county, provided that his
1-12     failure to register to vote shall not be held to disqualify him in
1-13     this instance;
1-14                 2.  He must be of sound mind and good moral character;
1-15                 3.  He must be able to read and write;
1-16                 4.  He must not have been convicted of theft or of any
1-17     felony;
1-18                 5.  He must not be under indictment or other legal
1-19     accusation for theft or of any felony;
1-20                 6.  He must not be related within the third degree of
1-21     consanguinity or second degree of affinity, as determined under
1-22     Chapter 573, Government Code, to any person selected to serve or
1-23     serving on the same grand jury;
1-24                 7.  He must not have served as grand juror or jury
 2-1     commissioner in the year before the date on which the term of court
 2-2     for which he has been selected as grand juror begins;
 2-3                 8.  He must not be a complainant in any matter to be
 2-4     heard by the grand jury during the term of court for which he has
 2-5     been selected as a grand juror.
 2-6           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
 2-7     only to grand juror selections made on or after the effective date
 2-8     of this Act.  For purposes of this section, a selection is made
 2-9     before the effective date of this Act if any element of the
2-10     selection process occurs before the effective date.
2-11           (b)  A selection made before the effective date of this Act
2-12     is covered by the law in effect when the selection process began,
2-13     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-14           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-15           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.