By: Kacal (Senate Sponsor - Birdwell) H.B. No. 4147
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 2017;
May 8, 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 a defendant's right to appeal from a judgment or
conviction in a municipal court of record.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 30.00014(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A defendant has the right of appeal from a judgment or
conviction in a municipal court of record. The state has the right
to appeal as provided by Article 44.01, Code of Criminal Procedure.
The county criminal courts or county criminal courts of appeal in
the county in which the municipality is located or the municipal
courts of appeal have jurisdiction of appeals from a municipal
court of record. If there is no county criminal court, county
criminal court of appeal, or municipal court of appeal, the county
courts at law have jurisdiction of an appeal. If a county does not
have a county court at law under Chapter 25, the county court has
jurisdiction of any appeal.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act is intended
only to clarify existing law with respect to a judgment or
conviction that occurs in a municipal court of record and is
appealed to a county court.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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