HBA-BSM H.B. 2865 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2865 By: Sadler Criminal Jurisprudence 3/29/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, district judges are required to seat 12 grand jurors and two alternatives to comprise a formal grand jury. The law provides that no more than 20 persons may be summoned to comprise the actual grand jury pool that the 14 grand jurors are then selected from. However, problems may arise if persons are eligible to be excused from jury duty, in some cases causing a new grand jury pool to be summoned. House Bill 2865 authorizes the jury commissioners to select more than the current number of 20 jurors. 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 2865 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to increase from 20 to 30 the maximum number of grand jurors that the jury commissioners are authorized to select for the next term of court. The bill also increases from 20 to 30 the number of persons the district judge may require the jury commission to select, through a writ commanding the sheriff to summon the commission, after the commencement of a term. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.