1-1     By:  Cain                                             S.B. No. 1863
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed April 13, 1999; April 14, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
 1-4     April 27, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 4,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 27, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to voir dire requirements in civil actions.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Chapter 30, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
1-11     amended by adding Section 30.006 to read as follows:
1-12           Sec. 30.006.  VOIR DIRE REQUIREMENTS.  (a)  In this section,
1-13     "side" has the same meaning as in Rule 233, Texas Rules of Civil
1-14     Procedure, or its successor.
1-15           (b)  In any civil action to be tried before a jury, the trial
1-16     court shall allow each side voir dire, as follows:
1-17                 (1)  in Level 1 cases, as defined by Rule 190.2, Texas
1-18     Rules of Civil Procedure, at least one hour;
1-19                 (2)  in Level 2 cases, as defined by Rule 190.3, Texas
1-20     Rules of Civil Procedure, at least two hours; and
1-21                 (3)  in Level 3 cases, as defined by Rule 190.4, Texas
1-22     Rules of Civil Procedure, at least three hours.
1-23           (c)  The time allocated in Subsection (b) shall not include
1-24     time consumed in making preemptory challenges or challenges for
1-25     cause to jurors or in making or responding to objections.
1-26           (d)  The supreme court may adopt rules consistent with the
1-27     provisions of this section.  To the extent that any rule conflicts
1-28     with the provisions of this section, this section controls.
1-29           (e)  Section 22.004, Government Code, does not apply to this
1-30     section.
1-31           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-32     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-33     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-34     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-35     days is hereby suspended, and that this Act take effect and be in
1-36     force from and after its passage, and it is so enacted.
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