By: Ellis S.B. No. 2162

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the appointment of counsel for the purposes of community supervision revocation or appellate proceedings.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subsections (a), (c), (i), and (o), Article 26.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:

(a) The judges of the county courts, statutory county courts, and district courts trying criminal cases in each county, by local rule, shall adopt and publish written countywide procedures for timely and fairly appointing counsel for an indigent defendant in the county arrested for, [or] charged with, or taking an appeal from a conviction of a misdemeanor punishable by confinement or a felony. The procedures must be consistent with this article and Articles 1.051, 15.17, 26.05, and 26.052. A court shall appoint an attorney from a public appointment list using a system of rotation, unless the court appoints an attorney under Subsection (f), (h), or (i). The court shall appoint attorneys from among the next five names on the appointment list in the order in which the attorneys' names appear on the list, unless the court makes a finding of good cause on the record for appointing an attorney out of order. An attorney who is not appointed in the order in which the attorney's name appears on the list shall remain next in order on the list.

(c) Whenever a court or the courts' designee authorized under Subsection (b) to appoint counsel for indigent defendants in the county determines for purposes of a criminal proceeding that a defendant charged with or appealing a conviction of a felony or a misdemeanor punishable by confinement is indigent or that the interests of justice require representation of a defendant in the [a criminal] proceeding, the court or the courts' designee shall appoint one or more practicing attorneys to represent [defend] the defendant in accordance with this subsection and the procedures adopted under Subsection (a). If the court or the courts' designee determines that the defendant does not speak and understand the English language or that the defendant is deaf, the court or the courts' designee shall make an effort to appoint an attorney who is capable of communicating in a language understood by the defendant.

(i) A court or the courts' designee required under Subsection (c) to appoint an attorney to represent a defendant accused or convicted of a felony may appoint an attorney from any county located in the court's administrative judicial region.

(o) Before making a determination of whether a defendant is indigent, the court shall request the defendant to sign under oath a statement substantially in the following form:

"On this ________ day of ____________, 20 ___, I have been advised by the (name of the court) Court of my right to representation by counsel in connection with [the trial of] the charge pending against me. I am without means to employ counsel of my own choosing and I hereby request the court to appoint counsel for me. (signature of the defendant)"

SECTION 2. Subsection (d), Section 21, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

(d) A defendant has a right to counsel at a hearing under this section. The court shall appoint counsel for an indigent defendant in accordance with Article 26.04.

SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a criminal proceeding that commences on or after the effective date of this Act. A criminal proceeding that commences before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the proceeding commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.