78R3210 KEL-D

By:  Dutton                                                       H.B. No. 540



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to standards for judicial review of certain writs of 
habeas corpus in capital cases.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 5(a), Article 11.071, Code of Criminal 
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
	(a)  If a subsequent application for a writ of habeas corpus 
is filed after filing an initial application, a court may not 
consider the merits of or grant relief based on the subsequent 
application unless the application contains sufficient specific 
facts establishing that:
		(1)  the current claims and issues have not been and 
could not have been presented previously in a timely initial 
application or in a previously considered application filed under 
this article or Article 11.07 because the factual or legal basis for 
the claim was unavailable on the date the applicant filed the 
previous application;
		(2)  by a preponderance of the evidence, but for a 
violation of the United States Constitution no rational juror could 
have found the applicant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; or
		(3)  by a preponderance of the [clear and convincing] 
evidence, but for a violation of the United States Constitution no 
rational juror would have answered in the state's favor one or more 
of the special issues that were submitted to the jury in the 
applicant's trial under Article 37.071 or 37.0711.
	SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act to Section 
5(a), Article 11.071, Code of Criminal Procedure, applies only to 
an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed on or after the 
effective date of this Act.  An application for a writ of habeas 
corpus filed before the effective date of this Act is governed by 
the law in effect before the effective date of this Act, and the 
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.