79R7076 RMB-F

By:  Cook of Colorado                                             H.B. No. 2292



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the appearance of certain misdemeanor offenders before 
a magistrate.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Article 14.06, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to 
read as follows:
	(a)  Except as otherwise provided by this article
[Subsection (b)], in each case enumerated in this Code, the person 
making the arrest or the person having custody of the person 
arrested shall take the person arrested or have him taken without 
unnecessary delay, but not later than 48 hours after the person is 
arrested, before the magistrate who may have ordered the arrest, 
before some magistrate of the county where the arrest was made 
without an order, or, if necessary to provide more expeditiously to 
the person arrested the warnings described by Article 15.17 of this 
Code, before a magistrate in a county bordering the county in which 
the arrest was made.  The magistrate shall immediately perform the 
duties described in Article 15.17 of this Code.
	(c)  If the person resides in the county where the offense 
occurred, a peace officer who is charging a person, including a 
child, with committing an offense that is a Class A or B misdemeanor 
may, instead of taking the person before a magistrate, issue a 
citation to the person that contains written notice of the time and 
place the person must appear before a magistrate, the name and 
address of the person charged, and the offense charged.  This 
subsection does not apply to a person  charged with an offense 
committed under Chapter 22, 25, 36-39, or 43 or Section 42.11, 
46.13, 48.02, 49.04, 49.05, 49.06, or 49.065, Penal Code.
	SECTION 2.  Article 15.17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
	(g)  If a person charged with an offense punishable as a 
misdemeanor appears before a magistrate in compliance with a 
citation issued under Article 14.06(b) or (c), the magistrate shall 
perform the duties imposed by this article in the same manner as if 
the person had been arrested and brought before the magistrate by a 
peace officer.
	SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only 
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.  
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is 
covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the 
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of 
this section, an offense is committed before the effective date of 
this Act if any element of the offense occurs before the effective 
date.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.