By: Huffman, Nichols S.B. No. 1298
(In the Senate - Filed March 3, 2017; March 13, 2017, read
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
April 18, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
Nays 0; April 18, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the selection and summons of prospective grand jurors.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 19.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 19.01. SELECTION AND SUMMONS OF PROSPECTIVE GRAND
JURORS. The district judge shall direct that 20 to 250 [125]
prospective grand jurors be selected and summoned, with return on
summons, in the same manner as for the selection and summons of
panels for the trial of civil cases in the district courts. The
judge shall try the qualifications for and excuses from service as a
grand juror and impanel the completed grand jury as provided by this
chapter.
SECTION 2. A district judge who on or after the effective
date of this Act directs that prospective grand jurors be selected
and summoned shall comply with the requirements of Article 19.01,
Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended by this Act. A district
judge who before the effective date of this Act directs that
prospective grand jurors be selected and summoned shall comply with
Article 19.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, as it existed
immediately before the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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