By Luna                                               S.B. No. 1189
         76R769 GWK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the waiver of a trial by jury.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Article 1.13(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  The defendant in a criminal prosecution for any offense
 1-7     other than a capital felony case in which the State notifies the
 1-8     court and the defendant that it will seek the death penalty shall
 1-9     have the right, upon entering a plea, to waive the right of trial
1-10     by jury, conditioned, however, that such waiver must be made in
1-11     person by the defendant in writing in open court with the consent
1-12     and approval of the court, and if the offense is a felony, with the
1-13     consent and approval of the attorney representing the State.  The
1-14     consent and approval by the court shall be entered of record on the
1-15     minutes of the court, and the consent and approval of the attorney
1-16     representing the State, if required by this subsection, shall be in
1-17     writing, signed by him, and filed in the papers of the cause before
1-18     the defendant enters his plea.
1-19           SECTION 2.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
1-20     only to the trial of an offense in which the defendant enters a
1-21     plea on or after the effective date of this Act, whether the trial
1-22     is for an offense committed before, on, or after the effective date
1-23     of this Act.
1-24           (b)  The trial of an offense in which the defendant entered a
 2-1     plea before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
 2-2     effect when the plea was entered, and the former law is continued
 2-3     in effect for that purpose.
 2-4           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-5           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.