Monday, November 4,1985/The Battalion/Page 7
Proposals
Prop 3 would extend land credit
If voters Tuesday approve
Proposition 3, the Texas Legis
lature will be allowed to pass leg
islation that would extend credit
to property owners for the pur
pose of replacing or relocating
water laterals.
When water laterals, which
connect individual properties to
main water lines, are under pri
vate property the property owner
must pay any maintenance costs.
Proposition 3, if passed, will
enable city governments to loan
money to those who cannot af
ford to pay for repairs upfront.
After the property owner sub
mits a written request to the city
for a loan, the city would assess
the cost of the relocation or re
placement of laterals. The owner
would have five years to pay the
city.
The amount of money owed
would be subject to a simple inter
est rate of 10 percent per year. In
addition, the city would hold a
lien against the property until the
debt is paid.
In November 1984, a constitu
tional amendment was approved
which created an identical provi
sion for sewer lines. Proposition 3
simply would add water lines to
the existing amendment.
If the propostion passes, the
individual cities still will have the
authority to decide whether or
not to act on the provisions.
Prop 11 would clarify indictments
By FRANK SMITH
Staff Writer
Voter approval of Proposition
11 on Tuesday would allow the
rewriting of a portion of the state
code on criminal charge require
ments.
The Texas constitution re
quires that written charging in
struments contain specific lan
guage saying the prosecution is
being carried out “in the name
and t>y the authority of the State
of Texas.”
Also, each charge must con
clude with the words “against the
peace and dignity of the Mate.”
The proposition would elimi
nate these specific words and add
definitions of an indictment and
an information.
Indictments are used to begin
felony prosecutions. Informa
tions start criminal proceedings
in misdemeanor cases.
Proposition 11 would define an
indictment as a criminal charge
presented by a grand jury. An in
formation would be defined as a
criminal charge presented by a
prosecutor. Tne presentation of
either instrument to a court
would automatically give that
court jurisdiction over the case.
In addition, the Texas Legis
lature would be given the power
to provide by law for “the practice
and procedures relating to the
use of indictments and informa
tions, including their contents,
amendment, sufficiency and req
uisites.”
Steve Collins, assistant director
of the legal division of the Texas
Legislative Council, said the in
tent of the proposition is to allow
for the correction of defective in
dictments.
“The most significant point in
terms of Proposition 11 is how
you cure a defect in an indict
ment and the time of correcting
the indictment,” Collins said.
For instance, under current
case law' a substantive defect in an
indictment cannot be corrected
by a prosecutor, Collins said. In
stead, such a defect requires the
charging process to start all over
again.
A misspelled name is consid
ered to be a substantive defect,
Collins said.
He said a statute has been
passed in the Legislature contin
gent on approval of Proposition
1 1 which would make two
changes in the law related to in
dictments and informations.
One change would require a
defendant to object to defects in
the charging instrument before
trial or waive the right to object
on appeal, Collins said.
Tne other change would allow
prosecutors to amend indict
ments or informations in order to
correct defects before trial, he
said.
Prop 12 to widen low interpretotion
By TAMARA BELL
Staff Writer
If Proposition 12 passes l ues-
day, it would give the Texas Su
preme Court and the Court of
Criminal Appeals more control
over the way stale statutes are in
terpreted by the federal court,
says Paul Warr, a political science
faculty member at Texas A&M.
Frequently a federal court will
have cases brought before it that
deal with state laws, Warr says. If
the state law has never been inter
preted by a state court, then the
federal court will ask the highest
state court for its interpretation
of that law.
“This is called certifying state
law' questions,” Warr says. “The
federal court says it will not re
solve the case until it hears from
the state court on how it should
interpret the provisions of the
statute.”
After the highest state court
has interpreted the statute, then
the federal court decides if the in
terpretation of the law is constitu
tional or not, he says.
“ The federal court is reluctant
to interpret state laws unless the
state court has ruled on the stat
ute,” Warr says. “It’s a way for the
federal court to provide the state
courts some def erence.”
But in Texas, neither the Su
preme Court nor the Court of
Criminal Appeals is allowed to in
terpret statutes for the federal
courts unless the court has juris
diction, Warr says.
“Because both appellate courts
in Texas are prohioited from an
swering questions unless the two
parlies are fighting it out in front
of one of the courts, there’s no
way for the federal courts to
know how to interprete a brand -
new state law,” Warr says.
“In the past the federal courts
have had to fly blind. The judges
don’t know how the state courts
would have interpreted a law and
they just have to say, ‘We think
this is how the state court would
interpret this law,’ and then make
a decision based only on their un
derstanding of the law.”
Warr says the proposed
amendment would provide the
state appellate courts with a tool
to insure the proper interpreta
tion of a law.
The proposed amendment
wouldn’t effect the residents of
Bryan-College Station unless they
file a law' suit in a federal court
that requires the interpretation of
a state law, he says.
Prop 13 may simplify court system
By CYNTHIA GAY
Staff Writer
On Tuesday Texas voters will
issue a verdict on the merits of
Proposition 13, which is designed
to make it easier for the state to
reapportion judicial districts. It
will create a Judicial Districts
Board to point out district areas
that are too small or too large.
If Propostion 13’s luck holds
out at the polls, it also will broa
den the courts’ jurisdiction and
entrust the Supreme Court with
more specific provisions in over
seeing the courts.
Hoping to somewhat simplify
Texas’ complex court system, the
Senate-House Select Committee
on the Judiciary made a series of
recommendations to the last Leg
islature. Proposition 13 will test
whether the public wants to
change a system which has re
mained virtually untouched since
the Texas Constitution of 1876
was put into effect.
The Texas Constitution em
powers the Legislature to divide
Texas into judicial districts and
adjust their sizes to meet popula
tion changes. Each of the state’s
374 district courts represents an
area no smaller than a county.
However, more than one court
may serve a single district, such as
in Harris County which needs 59
district courts for its growing
population.
If the proposition passes, the
task of making reapportionment
plans would belong to the Judicial
Districts Board along with the
Legislature. If the Legislature
fails to reapportion districts
within three years after each fed
eral census, tne board will step in
to make necessary changes. In ad
dition, the board may convene
between legislative sessions to
draw new district lines. But, all its
plans must be approved by a ma-
lority vote of both legislative
nouses.
The chief justice of the Texas
Supreme Court would chair the
13-member board, which would
include the presidingjudge of the
Court of Criminal Appeals, the
presiding judges of each of the
nine admmistative judicial dis
tricts, the presidents of the Texas
Judicial Council, and one person
licensed to practice law appointed
by the governor for a four-year
term.
The constitution currently des
ignates the specific, limited juris
diction of state trial courts. Prop
osition 13 would replace these
guidelines with a general grant to
county and district courts.
District courts now hear crimi
nal felony cases, civil cases in
w'hich $500 or more is involved,
suits on behalf of the state, di
vorce cases and official miscon
duct misdemeanors. They also
handle slander and defamation
suits, suits involving land titles
and liens, levies on property va
lued at $500 and over, contested
elections and certain probate
matters.
With this proposition, district
courts would have exclusive, ap
pellate and original jurisdiction
over all actions and remedies ex
cept those conferred by the con
stitution or by law on some other
court or administrative body. Dis
trict judges would enforce this
broad jurisdiction with their
power to issue writs.
In addition, each judicial dis
trict would be allowed to have
more than one district judge.
Constitutional grants for
county courts currently give the
courts jurisdiction over misde
meanor cases with a fine over
$200, concurrent jurisdiction
with justice courts in civil cases
with more than $200 and less
than $500 at stake, and with dis
trict courts in civil cases involving
more than $500 and less than
$1,000, and general probate ju-
risdictiop.
The amendment would cancel
these specific grants with a gen
eral grant to county courts of “ju
risdiction provided by law.”
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The Student Conference on
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presents:
F 1
THElimOLE EAST
M S C. SCONA
3 (
February 12-15,1986
YOU’VE GOT THE GOMS,
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In business management,
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