Bill Text: TX HB115 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Relating to postconviction applications for a writ of habeas corpus.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 3)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2025-05-15 - Received from the House [HB115 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB115-Engrossed.html

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89R17419 JRR-D
By: Cook, Hull, Curry H.B. No. 115

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to postconviction applications for a writ of habeas
corpus.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 1.051(d), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(d) An eligible indigent defendant is entitled to have the
trial court appoint an attorney to represent the defendant [him] in
the following appellate and postconviction habeas corpus matters:
(1) an appeal to a court of appeals;
(2) an appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals if the
appeal is made directly from the trial court or if a petition for
discretionary review has been granted;
(3) a habeas corpus proceeding if:
(A) the defendant raises a claim governed by
Article 11.073; or
(B) the court concludes that the interests of
justice require representation; and
(4) any other appellate proceeding if the court
concludes that the interests of justice require representation.
SECTION 2. Section 5, Article 11.07, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 5. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), the [The]
Court of Criminal Appeals may deny relief upon the findings and
conclusions of the hearing judge without docketing the cause, or
may direct that the cause be docketed and heard as though originally
presented to said court or as an appeal. Upon reviewing the record
the court shall enter its judgment remanding the applicant to
custody or ordering the applicant's [his] release, as the law and
facts may justify. The mandate of the court shall issue to the
court issuing the writ, as in other criminal cases. After
conviction the procedure outlined in this article [Act] shall be
exclusive and any other proceeding shall be void and of no force and
effect in discharging the prisoner.
(b) The court of criminal appeals may not deny relief on a
claim governed by Article 11.073 except by a written decision
addressing the merits of the claim.
SECTION 3. Section 5, Article 11.071, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended by adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
the court of criminal appeals may consider a subsequent application
that fails to satisfy the requirements of Subsection (a) if the
court finds that justice requires the court to consider the
application. If the court of criminal appeals makes the finding
described by this subsection, the convicting court may take further
action on the application. If the court of criminal appeals does
not make the finding described by this subsection, the court shall
issue an order dismissing the application as an abuse of the writ
under this section.
SECTION 4. Section 6(b-1), Article 11.071, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(b-1) If the convicting court receives notice that the
requirements of Section 5 [5(a)] for consideration of a subsequent
application have been met and if the applicant has not elected to
proceed pro se and is not represented by retained counsel, the
convicting court shall appoint, in order of priority:
(1) the attorney who represented the applicant in the
proceedings under Section 5, if the attorney seeks the appointment;
(2) the office of capital and forensic writs, if the
office represented the applicant in the proceedings under Section 5
or otherwise accepts the appointment; or
(3) counsel from a list of competent counsel
maintained by the presiding judges of the administrative judicial
regions under Section 78.056, Government Code, if the office of
capital and forensic writs:
(A) did not represent the applicant as described
by Subdivision (2); or
(B) does not accept or is prohibited from
accepting the appointment under Section 78.054, Government Code.
SECTION 5. Article 11.073, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 11.073. PROCEDURE RELATED TO CERTAIN SCIENTIFIC
EVIDENCE. (a) This article applies to relevant scientific
evidence that:
(1) was not reasonably available to be offered by a
convicted person at the convicted person's trial; or
(2) contradicts or tends to negate scientific evidence
relied on by the state at trial.
(b) A court may grant a convicted person relief on an
application for a writ of habeas corpus if:
(1) the convicted person files an application, in the
manner provided by Article 11.07, 11.071, or 11.072, containing
specific facts indicating that:
(A) relevant scientific evidence is currently
available and was not available at the time of the convicted
person's trial because the evidence was not ascertainable through
the exercise of reasonable diligence by the convicted person before
the date of or during the convicted person's trial; and
(B) the scientific evidence would be admissible
under the Texas Rules of Evidence at a trial held on the date of the
application; and
(2) the court makes the findings described by
Subdivisions (1)(A) and (B) and also finds that, had the scientific
evidence been presented at trial, there is a reasonable likelihood
the scientific evidence could have affected the person's conviction
or the sentence imposed [on the preponderance of the evidence the
person would not have been convicted].
(c) [For purposes of] Section 4(a)(1), Article 11.07,
Section 5(a)(1), Article 11.071, and Section 9(a), Article 11.072,
apply to a claim governed by this article only if the claim has been
previously presented in an application filed by an attorney [or
issue could not have been presented previously in an original
application or in a previously considered application if the claim
or issue is based on relevant scientific evidence that was not
ascertainable through the exercise of reasonable diligence by the
convicted person on or before the date on which the original
application or a previously considered application, as applicable,
was filed].
(d) In making a finding as to whether relevant scientific
evidence was not ascertainable through the exercise of reasonable
diligence [on or] before the [a specific] date of or during the
convicted person's trial, the court shall consider whether the
field of scientific knowledge, a testifying expert's scientific
knowledge, or a scientific method on which the relevant scientific
evidence is based has changed since [:
[(1)] the applicable trial date or dates [, for a
determination made with respect to an original application; or
[(2) the date on which the original application or a
previously considered application, as applicable, was filed, for a
determination made with respect to a subsequent application].
SECTION 6. Chapter 11, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 11.66 to read as follows:
Art. 11.66. WRIT TO INVOKE DISTRICT COURT JURISDICTION FOR
PURPOSE OF OBTAINING RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FOR POSTCONVICTION WRIT OF
HABEAS CORPUS APPLICATION. (a) A person may file a writ under this
article in a district court for the purpose of invoking the court's
jurisdiction to obtain documents described by Subsection (b)(2)(B)
related to filing an application for a writ of habeas corpus under
this chapter.
(b) A person may file a petition for a writ under this
article only if:
(1) the person is an attorney licensed in this state;
(2) the person affirms in the petition that:
(A) the person is seeking to file an application
for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of an applicant after a final
conviction; and
(B) the person cannot in good faith file the
application until the person obtains documents relevant to a ground
for relief in the application; and
(3) the person provides the office of the attorney
representing the state in the applicant's case with reasonable
notice of the person's intention to file a petition for a writ under
this article.
(c) A district court's jurisdiction under this article is
limited only to matters relating to:
(1) a petition for a writ under this article; and
(2) the issuance of documents requested by the
petition for a writ under this article.
SECTION 7. Section 24.011, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 24.011. WRIT POWER. A judge of a district court may,
either in termtime or vacation, grant a writ [writs] of mandamus,
injunction, sequestration, attachment, garnishment, certiorari,
and supersedeas, a writ to issue documents under Article 11.66,
Code of Criminal Procedure, and any [all] other writ [writs]
necessary to the enforcement of the court's jurisdiction.
SECTION 8. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed on or after the
effective date of this Act. An application filed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the application was filed, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect December 1, 2025.