HBA-EDN H.B. 1805 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1805
By: Brown, Betty
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/24/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, cases involving personal injury can be dismissed for a wide
variety of reasons.  Upon dismissal there is no statutory notification
process in place for the victims and the only way that a victim would know
of the dismissal is if the victim inquires as to the status of the case.
Consequently, a victim may not be able to object to the dismissal within
the time allowed for dismissal procedures.  House Bill 1805 requires an
attorney requesting dismissal of a case to notify victims or their families
of such dismissal. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1805 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide that a
written statement of the attorney representing the state for dismissal of a
criminal action must contain, in addition to a statement of the attorney's
reasons for requesting dismissal: 

_a statement as to whether, if a close relative of a deceased victim,
guardian of a victim, or victim was listed in the charging instrument, the
files of the attorney representing the state, or the victim impact
statement, the attorney contacted or attempted to contact and inform the
person of the attorney's intent to request dismissal and that the person
has a right to object to the dismissal; and 

_the date, if any, on which information described above was provided to a
close relative of a deceased victim, guardian of a victim, or victim and
the date by which the person was requested to state to the attorney any
objection to the request for dismissal. 

H.B. 1805 authorizes a judge who receives a written notice stating such an
objection to defer ruling on the request until the person objecting is
allowed to fully present the objection to the judge.  

H.B. 1805 provides that a victim, guardian of a victim, or close relative
of a deceased victim is entitled to reasonable notice and an opportunity to
object to the dismissal of criminal charges and requires the attorney
representing the state to give notice, as circumstances reasonably allow.
The bill provides that such notice must specifically state the name and
address of the court in which the dismissal may be granted, the cause
number and style of the case, and the date by which the victim must deliver
to the court any written objection to the request for dismissal.      

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.