By: Geren (Senate Sponsor - Nelson) H.B. No. 1266
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 1, 2017;
May 4, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 19, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 19, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to notice for hearings and trial settings in criminal
cases.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 29, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 29.035 to read as follows:
Art. 29.035. FOR INSUFFICIENT NOTICE OF HEARING OR TRIAL.
(a) Notwithstanding Article 28.01 or any other provision of this
chapter, and except as otherwise provided by this article, a trial
court shall grant a continuance of a criminal action on oral or
written motion of the state or the defendant if the trial court sets
a hearing or trial without providing to the attorney for the state
and the defendant, or the defendant's attorney, notice of the
hearing or trial at least three business days before the date of the
hearing or trial.
(b) This article does not apply during the period between:
(1) the date the trial begins; and
(2) the date the judgment is entered.
SECTION 2. Article 29.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
added by this Act, applies to a criminal action pending before a
trial court on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless
of whether the offense that is the subject of the action was
committed before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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