1-1 By: Duncan S.B. No. 216 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 21, 1999; January 28, 1999, 1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; 1-4 February 18, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 1-5 7, Nays 0; February 18, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to the disqualification of a person convicted of theft 1-9 from selection or service as a grand juror. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. Article 19.08, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 1-12 amended to read as follows: 1-13 Art. 19.08. QUALIFICATIONS. No person shall be selected or 1-14 serve as a grand juror who does not possess the following 1-15 qualifications: 1-16 1. He must be a citizen of the state, and of the 1-17 county in which he is to serve, and be qualified under the 1-18 Constitution and laws to vote in said county, provided that his 1-19 failure to register to vote shall not be held to disqualify him in 1-20 this instance; 1-21 2. He must be of sound mind and good moral character; 1-22 3. He must be able to read and write; 1-23 4. He must not have been convicted of theft or of any 1-24 felony; 1-25 5. He must not be under indictment or other legal 1-26 accusation for theft or of any felony; 1-27 6. He must not be related within the third degree of 1-28 consanguinity or second degree of affinity, as determined under 1-29 Chapter 573, Government Code, to any person selected to serve or 1-30 serving on the same grand jury; 1-31 7. He must not have served as grand juror or jury 1-32 commissioner in the year before the date on which the term of court 1-33 for which he has been selected as grand juror begins; 1-34 8. He must not be a complainant in any matter to be 1-35 heard by the grand jury during the term of court for which he has 1-36 been selected as a grand juror. 1-37 SECTION 2. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies 1-38 only to grand juror selections made on or after the effective date 1-39 of this Act. For purposes of this section, a selection is made 1-40 before the effective date of this Act if any element of the 1-41 selection process occurs before the effective date. 1-42 (b) A selection made before the effective date of this Act 1-43 is covered by the law in effect when the selection process began, 1-44 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. 1-45 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. 1-46 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the 1-47 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-48 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-49 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-50 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. 1-51 * * * * *