By Garcia                                             H.B. No. 1017
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to making one-time, emergency appropriations to Dallas
 1-3     County to partially defray the costs of detaining and prosecuting
 1-4     certain accused individuals.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1. SECURITY AND DETENTION COSTS. There is hereby
 1-7     appropriated to Dallas County out of the General Revenue Fund, or
 1-8     any other fund which--in the discretion of the Governor--would be
 1-9     more appropriate, or any combinations thereof, the sum of
1-10     $750,000.00 for the security and detention costs associated with
1-11     the six (6) surviving escaped convicts--known colloquially as the
1-12     "Texas Seven" or as the "Connally Seven"-- individually identified
1-13     as Joseph C. Garcia; Randy Ethan Halprin; Patrick Henry Murphy,
1-14     Jr.; Donald Keith Newbury; George Rivas; and Michael Anthony
1-15     Rodriguez; all six (6) of whom, together with the deceased Larry
1-16     James Harper, absconded from the custody of the Texas Department of
1-17     Criminal Justice, Connally Unit, in Kenedy, Texas, on Wednesday,
1-18     December 13, 2000.
1-19           SECTION 2.  TRIAL AND APPELLATE COSTS. There is hereby
1-20     appropriated to Dallas County out of the General Revenue Fund, or
1-21     any other fund which--in the discretion of the Governor--would be
1-22     more appropriate, or any combinations thereof, the sum of
 2-1     $500,000.00 (half of the estimated $1,000,000.00 for the trial, and
 2-2     any subsequent appellate, costs incurred by Dallas County in the
 2-3     prosecution of the aforementioned Messrs. Garcia, Halprin, Murphy,
 2-4     Newbury, Rivas, and Rodriguez for any and all criminal offenses for
 2-5     which any or all of them may be charged.
 2-6           SECTION 3.  EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation and
 2-7     the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-8     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-9     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-10     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-11     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-12     passage, and it is so enacted.