Bill Text: TX HB507 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to policies and standards for providing legal representation to indigent defendants in certain capital felony cases.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-11-12 - Filed [HB507 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB507-Introduced.html

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89R3623 MEW-F
By: Gervin-Hawkins H.B. No. 507

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to policies and standards for providing legal
representation to indigent defendants in certain capital felony
cases.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 26.052, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) and amending
Subsections (d) and (m) to read as follows:
(c-1) Each local selection committee described by
Subsection (c) shall evaluate and determine the list of attorneys
in the applicable administrative judicial region qualified under
this article to be appointed to represent indigent defendants in
capital cases in which the death penalty is sought and post the list
on the Internet website of that administrative judicial region.
(c-2)(1) A statewide capital defense training and standards
committee is created. The committee must be composed of nine
members, including:
(A) two judges jointly selected by the presiding
judges of the administrative judicial regions;
(B) a criminal defense attorney appointed by the
president of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association;
(C) the chief public defender of the Regional
Public Defender for Capital Cases office, or the chief public
defender's designee;
(D) the chief capital defender of a county public
defender office appointed by the executive director of the Texas
Indigent Defense Commission;
(E) a member of the State Bar of Texas committee
on legal services to the poor in criminal matters selected by the
chair of the committee; and
(F) three attorneys appointed by the executive
director of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission.
(2) Each member of the statewide capital defense
training and standards committee must:
(A) be a licensed attorney; and
(B) have significant experience in capital
defense or indigent criminal defense policy or practice.
(3) A member of the statewide capital defense training
and standards committee may not be a prosecutor, a law enforcement
officer, or an employee of the office of capital and forensic writs.
(4) Members of the statewide capital defense training
and standards committee serve four-year terms and may be
reappointed. If a vacancy occurs, the appropriate appointing
authority shall appoint a successor in the same manner as the
original appointment to serve for the remainder of the unexpired
term.
(5) The members of the statewide capital defense
training and standards committee shall select a chair from among
the committee's members.
(6) A member of the statewide capital defense training
and standards committee may not receive compensation for service on
the committee but is entitled to be reimbursed for actual and
necessary expenses incurred in discharging committee duties. The
expenses are paid from funds appropriated to the Texas Indigent
Defense Commission.
(7) The Texas Indigent Defense Commission shall
provide administrative support to the statewide capital defense
training and standards committee as necessary to carry out the
purposes of the committee.
(d)(1) The statewide capital defense training and standards
committee created under Subsection (c-2) shall adopt policies and
standards for providing legal representation [the qualification of
attorneys to be appointed] to [represent] indigent defendants in
capital cases in which the death penalty is sought. The policies and
standards must include, with respect to the qualification of
attorneys to be appointed in capital cases, the following:
(A) training requirements and curricula;
(B) qualification standards;
(C) continuing legal education requirements; and
(D) other policies and standards as necessary to
ensure quality legal representation in capital cases.
(2) The standards described by Subdivision (1) must
require that a trial attorney appointed as lead counsel to a capital
case:
(A) be a member of the State Bar of Texas;
(B) exhibit proficiency and commitment to
providing quality representation to defendants in death penalty
cases;
(C) have not been found by a local selection
committee described by Subsection (c) to have provided deficient
legal representation [a federal or state court to have rendered
ineffective assistance of counsel] during the trial or appeal of
any capital case if [, unless] the local selection committee has
determined [determines under Subsection (n)] that the conduct
underlying the deficient representation [finding no longer]
accurately reflects the attorney's inability [ability] to provide
effective representation in the future;
(D) have at least five years of criminal law
experience;
(E) have tried to a verdict as lead defense
counsel a significant number of felony cases, including homicide
trials and other trials for offenses punishable as second or first
degree felonies or capital felonies;
(F) have trial experience in[:
[(i)] the use of and challenges to mental
health or forensic expert witnesses[;] and have:
(i) trial experience in [(ii)]
investigating and presenting mitigating evidence at the penalty
phase of a death penalty trial, regardless of whether:
(a) the case resulted in a judgment or
dismissal; or
(b) the state subsequently waived the
death penalty in the case; or
(ii) an equivalent amount of trial
experience, as determined by the applicable local selection
committee; and
(G) have participated in continuing legal
education courses or other training relating to criminal defense in
death penalty cases.
(3) The standards described by Subdivision (1) must
require that an attorney appointed as lead appellate counsel in the
direct appeal of a capital case:
(A) be a member of the State Bar of Texas;
(B) exhibit proficiency and commitment to
providing quality representation to defendants in death penalty
cases;
(C) have not been found by a local selection
committee described by Subsection (c) to have provided deficient
legal representation [a federal or state court to have rendered
ineffective assistance of counsel] during the trial or appeal of
any capital case if [, unless] the local selection committee has
determined [determines under Subsection (n)] that the conduct
underlying the deficient representation [finding no longer]
accurately reflects the attorney's inability [ability] to provide
effective representation in the future;
(D) have at least five years of criminal law
experience;
(E) have authored a significant number of
appellate briefs, including appellate briefs for homicide cases and
other cases involving an offense punishable as a capital felony or a
felony of the first degree or an offense described by Article
42A.054(a);
(F) have trial or appellate experience in[:
[(i)] the use of and challenges to mental
health or forensic expert witnesses[;] and have:
(i) trial or appellate experience in [(ii)]
the use of mitigating evidence at the penalty phase of a death
penalty trial, regardless of whether:
(a) the case resulted in a judgment or
dismissal; or
(b) the state subsequently waived the
death penalty in the case; or
(ii) an equivalent amount of trial or
appellate experience, as determined by the applicable local
selection committee; and
(G) have participated in continuing legal
education courses or other training relating to criminal defense in
appealing death penalty cases.
(4) The Texas Indigent Defense Commission [committee]
shall prominently post the policies and standards adopted by the
statewide capital defense training and standards committee under
Subdivision (1) on the commission's Internet website [in each
district clerk's office in the region with a list of attorneys
qualified for appointment].
(5) Not later than the second anniversary of the date
an attorney is placed on a local selection committee's [the] list of
attorneys qualified for appointment in death penalty cases under
Subsection (c-1) and each year following the second anniversary,
the attorney must present a list of death penalty trial, direct
appeal, and habeas corpus cases in which the attorney served as
counsel and proof to the local selection committee for the
applicable administrative judicial region that the attorney has
successfully completed the training, minimum continuing legal
education requirements, and other standards adopted by the
statewide capital defense training and standards committee under
Subdivision (1) [of the State Bar of Texas, including a course or
other form of training relating to criminal defense in death
penalty cases or in appealing death penalty cases, as applicable].
The applicable local selection committee shall remove the
attorney's name from the list of qualified attorneys under
Subsection (c-1) if the attorney fails to provide the local
selection committee with the materials required under this
subdivision [proof of completion of the continuing legal education
requirements].
(m) Each [The] local selection committee shall annually
review the list of attorneys posted under Subsection (c-1) [(d)] to
ensure that each listed attorney satisfies the requirements under
this chapter.
SECTION 2. Article 26.052(n), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is repealed.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a capital felony case that is filed on or after the effective
date of this Act. A capital felony case that is filed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the case was filed, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.