| 1 | 1 | | 81R11124 JRH-F |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Deshotel H.B. No. 3078 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 6 | 6 | | AN ACT |
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| 7 | 7 | | relating to the racial distribution of members of jury panels. |
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| 8 | 8 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 9 | 9 | | SECTION 1. Section 62.004, Government Code, is amended by |
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| 10 | 10 | | adding Subsection (g) to read as follows: |
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| 11 | 11 | | (g) A party may request that a jury list that is not racially |
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| 12 | 12 | | or ethnically representative of the community according to the most |
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| 13 | 13 | | recent federal decennial census be discarded or reorganized in |
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| 14 | 14 | | order to make it more likely that a panel selected from the list is |
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| 15 | 15 | | racially and ethnically representative of the community. |
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| 16 | 16 | | SECTION 2. Section 62.011(b), Government Code, is amended |
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| 17 | 17 | | to read as follows: |
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| 18 | 18 | | (b) A plan authorized by this section for the selection of |
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| 19 | 19 | | names of prospective jurors must: |
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| 20 | 20 | | (1) be proposed in writing to the commissioners court |
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| 21 | 21 | | by a majority of the district and criminal district judges of the |
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| 22 | 22 | | county at a meeting of the judges called for that purpose; |
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| 23 | 23 | | (2) specify that the source of names of persons for |
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| 24 | 24 | | jury service is the same as that provided by Section 62.001 and that |
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| 25 | 25 | | the names of persons listed in a register of persons exempt from |
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| 26 | 26 | | jury service may not be used in preparing the record of names from |
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| 27 | 27 | | which a jury list is selected, as provided by Sections 62.108 and |
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| 28 | 28 | | 62.109; |
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| 29 | 29 | | (3) provide a fair, impartial, and objective method of |
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| 30 | 30 | | selecting names of persons for jury service with the aid of |
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| 31 | 31 | | electronic or mechanical equipment; |
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| 32 | 32 | | (4) designate the district clerk as the officer in |
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| 33 | 33 | | charge of the selection process and define his duties; [and] |
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| 34 | 34 | | (5) provide that the method of selection either will |
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| 35 | 35 | | use the same record of names for the selection of persons for jury |
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| 36 | 36 | | service until that record is exhausted or will use the same record |
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| 37 | 37 | | of names for a period of time specified by the plan; and |
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| 38 | 38 | | (6) provide that a panel be racially and ethnically |
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| 39 | 39 | | representative of the community according to the most recent |
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| 40 | 40 | | federal decennial census and provide for a panel replacement |
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| 41 | 41 | | procedure if the panel is not representative and a party requests |
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| 42 | 42 | | that it be representative. |
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| 43 | 43 | | SECTION 3. Section 62.0132, Government Code, is amended by |
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| 44 | 44 | | adding Subsection (h) to read as follows: |
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| 45 | 45 | | (h) The information in a completed questionnaire for a |
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| 46 | 46 | | potential juror in a litigant's trial shall be made available to a |
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| 47 | 47 | | litigant or litigant's attorney not later than three days before a |
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| 48 | 48 | | trial begins. |
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| 49 | 49 | | SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 50 | 50 | | to a proceeding that commences on or after the effective date of |
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| 51 | 51 | | this Act. A proceeding that commences before the effective date of |
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| 52 | 52 | | this Act is governed by the law in effect when the proceeding |
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| 53 | 53 | | commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for that |
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| 54 | 54 | | purpose. |
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| 55 | 55 | | SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009. |
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