78R3225 GWK-D

By:  Keel                                                         H.B. No. 615



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the appointment of counsel for an indigent applicant 
for a writ of habeas corpus in a capital case.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 2(d), Article 11.071, Code of Criminal 
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
	(d)  Each local selection committee created under Article 
26.052(c) shall adopt standards [The court of criminal appeals 
shall adopt rules] for the appointment of attorneys as counsel 
under this section and the convicting court may appoint an attorney 
as counsel under this section only if the attorney meets the 
standards adopted by the committee [appointment is approved by the 
court of criminal appeals in any manner provided by those rules].
	SECTION 2.  (a)  The local selection committee created in 
each administrative judicial region shall adopt standards for the 
appointment of counsel under Section 2, Article 11.071, Code of 
Criminal Procedure, as amended by this Act, not later than the 60th 
day after the effective date of this Act.
	(b)  A convicting court that appoints counsel under Section 
2, Article 11.071, Code of Criminal Procedure, on or after the 75th 
day after the effective date of this Act shall appoint the counsel 
in conformity with standards adopted by the local selection 
committee serving the convicting court.  Counsel appointed under 
Section 2, Article 11.071, before the 75th day after the effective 
date of this Act must be appointed in conformity with Section 2, 
Article 11.071, as that section existed immediately before the 
effective date of this Act, and the former law is continued in 
effect for this 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.