1-1     By:  Madla                                             S.B. No. 164
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed December 13, 2000; January 11, 2001,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
 1-4     February 21, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas
 1-5     5, Nays 0; February 21, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to officers authorized by law to hold an inquest.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Article 49.07, Code of Criminal
1-11     Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
1-12           (c)(1)  If the justice of the peace who serves the precinct
1-13     in which the body was found is not available to conduct an inquest,
1-14     a person required to give notice under this article shall notify
1-15     the nearest available justice of the peace serving the county[,
1-16     municipal court judge, county judge, or judge of the county court
1-17     at law of the county in which the death occurred or] in which the
1-18     body was found, and that justice of the peace shall conduct the
1-19     inquest.
1-20                 (2)  If no justice of the peace serving the county in
1-21     which the body was found is available to conduct an inquest, a
1-22     person required to give notice under this article shall notify the
1-23     county judge, and the county judge shall initiate the inquest.  The
1-24     county judge may exercise any power and perform any duty otherwise
1-25     granted to or imposed under this subchapter on the justice of the
1-26     peace serving the county in which the body was found, except that
1-27     not later than the fifth day after the day on which the inquest is
1-28     initiated, the county judge shall transfer all information obtained
1-29     by the judge to the justice of the peace in whose precinct the body
1-30     was found for final disposition of the matter.
1-31           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
1-32     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
1-33     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
1-34     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
1-35     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
1-36                                  * * * * *