79R1429 EMT-D

By:  McClendon                                                  H.J.R. No. 24 



A JOINT RESOLUTION

proposing a constitutional amendment establishing a moratorium in 
death penalty cases in which analyses performed by a crime 
laboratory operated by the City of Houston Police Department were 
admitted into evidence.
	BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                       
	SECTION 1.  Section 11, Article IV, Texas Constitution, is 
amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
	(c)  Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, a 
person convicted of a capital offense and sentenced to death may not 
be executed if at the trial of the offense evidence was admitted 
that was analyzed by a forensic laboratory operated by the City of 
Houston Police Department.  The 80th Legislature or a subsequent 
legislature may enact a statute that ends the moratorium on 
executions established by this subsection.
	SECTION 2.  This proposed constitutional amendment shall be 
submitted to the voters at an election to be held on November 8, 
2005.  The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against 
the proposition:  "The constitutional amendment providing that a 
moratorium be established barring executions in certain death 
penalty cases involving evidence analyzed by a City of Houston 
Police Department laboratory."