By: Leman (Senate Sponsor - Huffman, Zaffirini) H.B. No. 1996
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 23, 2019;
April 24, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; April 29, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 8, Nays 0; April 29, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to admonitions given by a court to a defendant before
accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 26.13, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (d-1) to
read as follows:
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (d-1), the [The] court
may make the admonitions required by this article either orally or
in writing. If the court makes the admonitions in writing, it must
receive a statement signed by the defendant and the defendant's
attorney that the defendant [he] understands the admonitions and is
aware of the consequences of the [his] plea. If the defendant is
unable or refuses to sign the statement, the court shall make the
admonitions orally.
(d-1) The court shall make the admonition required by
Subsection (a)(4) both orally and in writing. Unless the court has
received the statement as described by Subsection (d), the court
must receive a statement signed by the defendant and the
defendant's attorney that the defendant understands the admonition
required by Subsection (a)(4) and is aware of the consequences of
the plea. If the defendant is unable or refuses to sign the
statement, the court shall make a record of that fact.
SECTION 2. Article 26.13, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
amended by this Act, applies only to a plea of guilty or a plea of
nolo contendere accepted by a court on or after September 1, 2019,
regardless of whether the offense for which the plea was submitted
was committed before, on, or after that date.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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