78R3774 EMT-D

By:  Staples                                                      S.B. No. 727



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to compensating counties for the cost of appointing 
attorneys to represent death row inmates in habeas corpus 
proceedings.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subsections (a) and (b), Section 2A, Article 
11.071, Code of Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  The state shall reimburse a county for compensation of 
counsel under Section 2 and payment of expenses under Section 3.  
The total amount of reimbursement to which a county is entitled 
under this section for an application under this article may not 
exceed $50,000 [$25,000]. Compensation and expenses in excess of 
the $50,000 [$25,000] reimbursement provided by the state are the 
obligation of the county.
	(b)  A convicting court seeking reimbursement for a county 
shall certify to the comptroller of public accounts the amount of 
compensation that the county is entitled to receive under this 
section.  The comptroller of public accounts shall issue a warrant 
to the county in the amount certified by the convicting court, not 
to exceed $50,000 [$25,000].
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, but only 
if the comptroller certifies on or before that date that at least $2 
million is appropriated by the General Appropriations Act, Acts of 
the 78th Legislature, Regular Session, 2003, for the fiscal 
biennium ending August 31, 2005, to the court of criminal appeals 
for the purpose of providing compensation and expenses to counsel 
representing persons under a sentence of death in habeas corpus 
proceedings.