Curry Bill Disbars Lawyers Convicted Of Registrable Sex Offenses

The text as introduced · 426 words

90R1811 AMF-D

By: Curry
H.B. No. 512

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the suspension and disbarment of an attorney convicted

of any offense requiring the attorney to register as a sex offender.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Sections 81.078(b), (c), and (d), Government

Code, are amended to read as follows:

(b) On proof of an attorney's conviction in a trial court of

competent jurisdiction of any felony involving moral turpitude , of

any offense requiring the attorney to register as a sex offender

under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, or of any misdemeanor

involving the theft, embezzlement, or fraudulent misappropriation

of money or other property, the district court of the county of the

residence of the convicted attorney shall enter an order suspending

the attorney from the practice of law during the pendency of any

appeals from the conviction. An attorney who has been given

probation after the conviction, whether adjudicated or

unadjudicated, shall be suspended from the practice of law during

the probation.

(c) On proof of final conviction of any felony involving

moral turpitude , any offense requiring the attorney to register as

a sex offender under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, or any

misdemeanor involving theft, embezzlement, or fraudulent

misappropriation of money or other property, the district court of

the county of the residence of the convicted attorney shall enter an

order disbarring the attorney.

(d) In an action to disbar any attorney for acts made the

basis of a conviction for a felony involving moral turpitude , an

offense requiring the attorney to register as a sex offender under

Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, or a misdemeanor involving

theft, embezzlement, or fraudulent misappropriation of money or

other property, the record of conviction is conclusive evidence of

the guilt of the attorney for the crime of which the attorney [ he ]

was convicted.

SECTION 2. Section 81.078, Government Code, as amended by

this Act, applies only to an attorney convicted of an offense

committed on or after the effective date of this Act. An attorney

convicted of an offense committed before the effective date of this

Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was

committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that

purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed

before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense

occurred before that date.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2027.