By: Smithee, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Huffman) H.B. No. 75

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 19, 2025; May 19, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; May 23, 2025, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 1; May 23, 2025, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the duty of a magistrate to make written findings in certain criminal proceedings.

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

SECTION 1. Article 15.17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

(h) Not later than 24 hours after the time a magistrate determines that no probable cause exists to believe that a person committed the offense for which the person was arrested, the magistrate shall enter in the record written findings to support that finding.

SECTION 2. 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 governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred before that date.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

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