By: Madla S.B. No. 164
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to officers authorized by law to hold an inquest.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsection (c), Article 49.07, Code of Criminal
1-5 Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (c)(1) If the justice of the peace who serves the precinct
1-7 in which the body was found is not available to conduct an inquest,
1-8 a person required to give notice under this article shall notify
1-9 the nearest available justice of the peace serving the county[,
1-10 municipal court judge, county judge, or judge of the county court
1-11 at law of the county in which the death occurred or] in which the
1-12 body was found, and that justice of the peace shall conduct the
1-13 inquest.
1-14 (2) If no justice of the peace serving the county in
1-15 which the body was found is available to conduct an inquest, a
1-16 person required to give notice under this article shall notify the
1-17 county judge, and the county judge shall initiate the inquest. The
1-18 county judge may exercise any power and perform any duty otherwise
1-19 granted to or imposed under this subchapter on the justice of the
1-20 peace serving the county in which the body was found, except that
1-21 not later than the fifth day after the day on which the inquest is
1-22 initiated, the county judge shall transfer all information obtained
1-23 by the judge to the justice of the peace in whose precinct the body
1-24 was found for final disposition of the matter.
1-25 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-1 a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-2 provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
2-3 Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
2-4 Act takes effect September 1, 2001.