1-1 By: Armbrister S.B. No. 1125 1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 10, 1999; March 11, 1999, read 1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; 1-4 April 19, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6, 1-5 Nays 1; April 19, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to mediation in criminal cases. 1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-10 SECTION 1. Article 26.13, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 1-11 amended by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows: 1-12 (h) Notwithstanding this article, a court shall not order 1-13 the state or any of its prosecuting attorneys to participate in 1-14 mediation, dispute resolution, arbitration, or other similar 1-15 procedures in relation to a criminal prosecution unless upon 1-16 written consent of the state. 1-17 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 1-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-22 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 1-23 passage, and it is so enacted. 1-24 * * * * *