| 1 | | - | By: Herrero (Senate Sponsor - Whitmire) H.B. No. 3724 |
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| 2 | | - | (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2015; |
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| 3 | | - | May 13, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal |
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| 4 | | - | Justice; May 21, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote: |
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| 5 | | - | Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 21, 2015, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | | - | Click here to see the committee vote |
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| 1 | + | H.B. No. 3724 |
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| 10 | 4 | | AN ACT |
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| 11 | 5 | | relating to the consideration of certain scientific evidence |
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| 12 | 6 | | constituting the basis for an application for a writ of habeas |
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| 13 | 7 | | corpus. |
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| 14 | 8 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 15 | 9 | | SECTION 1. Article 11.073(d), Code of Criminal Procedure, |
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| 16 | 10 | | is amended to read as follows: |
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| 17 | 11 | | (d) In making a finding as to whether relevant scientific |
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| 18 | 12 | | evidence was not ascertainable through the exercise of reasonable |
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| 19 | 13 | | diligence on or before a specific date, the court shall consider |
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| 20 | 14 | | whether the field of scientific knowledge, a testifying expert's |
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| 21 | 15 | | scientific knowledge, or a scientific method on which the relevant |
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| 22 | 16 | | scientific evidence is based has changed since: |
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| 23 | 17 | | (1) the applicable trial date or dates, for a |
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| 24 | 18 | | determination made with respect to an original application; or |
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| 25 | 19 | | (2) the date on which the original application or a |
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| 26 | 20 | | previously considered application, as applicable, was filed, for a |
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| 27 | 21 | | determination made with respect to a subsequent application. |
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| 28 | 22 | | SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |
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| 29 | | - | * * * * * |
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| 23 | + | ______________________________ ______________________________ |
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| 24 | + | President of the Senate Speaker of the House |
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| 25 | + | I certify that H.B. No. 3724 was passed by the House on May |
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| 26 | + | 11, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 132, Nays 3, 1 present, not |
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| 27 | + | voting. |
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| 28 | + | ______________________________ |
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| 29 | + | Chief Clerk of the House |
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| 30 | + | I certify that H.B. No. 3724 was passed by the Senate on May |
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| 31 | + | 22, 2015, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. |
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| 32 | + | ______________________________ |
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| 33 | + | Secretary of the Senate |
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| 34 | + | APPROVED: _____________________ |
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| 35 | + | Date |
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| 36 | + | _____________________ |
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| 37 | + | Governor |
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