81R11124 JRH-F
By: Deshotel H.B. No. 3078
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the racial distribution of members of jury panels.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 62.004, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
(g) A party may request that a jury list that is not racially
or ethnically representative of the community according to the most
recent federal decennial census be discarded or reorganized in
order to make it more likely that a panel selected from the list is
racially and ethnically representative of the community.
SECTION 2. Section 62.011(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) A plan authorized by this section for the selection of
names of prospective jurors must:
(1) be proposed in writing to the commissioners court
by a majority of the district and criminal district judges of the
county at a meeting of the judges called for that purpose;
(2) specify that the source of names of persons for
jury service is the same as that provided by Section 62.001 and that
the names of persons listed in a register of persons exempt from
jury service may not be used in preparing the record of names from
which a jury list is selected, as provided by Sections 62.108 and
62.109;
(3) provide a fair, impartial, and objective method of
selecting names of persons for jury service with the aid of
electronic or mechanical equipment;
(4) designate the district clerk as the officer in
charge of the selection process and define his duties; [and]
(5) provide that the method of selection either will
use the same record of names for the selection of persons for jury
service until that record is exhausted or will use the same record
of names for a period of time specified by the plan; and
(6) provide that a panel be racially and ethnically
representative of the community according to the most recent
federal decennial census and provide for a panel replacement
procedure if the panel is not representative and a party requests
that it be representative.
SECTION 3. Section 62.0132, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:
(h) The information in a completed questionnaire for a
potential juror in a litigant's trial shall be made available to a
litigant or litigant's attorney not later than three days before a
trial begins.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a proceeding that commences on or after the effective date of
this Act. A 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 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.