|
|
|
|
By: Wu (Senate Sponsor - Miles) |
H.B. No. 678 |
|
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 10, 2017; |
|
April 19, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on |
|
Criminal Justice; May 17, 2017, reported favorably by the |
|
following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 17, 2017, sent to printer.) |
Click here to see the committee vote |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to the procedure for the entering of a plea or a |
|
stipulation of evidence by a child subject to a determinate |
|
sentence. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Section 54.10, Family Code, is amended by |
|
amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (f) to read as |
|
follows: |
|
(e) Except as provided by Subsection (f), the [The] hearings |
|
provided by Sections 54.03, 54.04, and 54.05 may not be held before |
|
a referee if the grand jury has approved of the petition and the |
|
child is subject to a determinate sentence. |
|
(f) When the state and a child who is subject to a |
|
determinate sentence agree to the disposition of the case, wholly |
|
or partly, a referee or associate judge may hold a hearing for the |
|
purpose of allowing the child to enter a plea or stipulation of |
|
evidence. After the hearing under this subsection, the referee or |
|
associate judge shall transmit the referee's or associate judge's |
|
written findings and recommendations regarding the plea or |
|
stipulation of evidence to the juvenile court judge for |
|
consideration. The juvenile court judge may accept or reject the |
|
plea or stipulation of evidence in accordance with Section |
|
54.03(j). |
|
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to |
|
conduct that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. |
|
Conduct that occurs before the effective date of this Act is |
|
governed by the law in effect on the date the conduct occurred, and |
|
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For |
|
purposes of this section, conduct occurs before the effective date |
|
of this Act if any element of the conduct occurs before that date. |
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017. |
|
|
|
* * * * * |