By: Anchia (Senate Sponsor - Johnson) H.B. No. 1126          (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2021;   May 14, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal   Justice; May 20, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:     Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 20, 2021, sent to printer.)Click here to see the committee vote     A BILL TO BE ENTITLED   AN ACT     relating to an application for a writ of habeas corpus in certain   felony cases.          BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:          SECTION 1.  Section 3(b), Article 11.07, Code of Criminal   Procedure, is amended to read as follows:          (b)  An application for writ of habeas corpus filed after   final conviction in a felony case, other than a case in which the   death penalty is imposed, must be filed with the clerk of the court   in which the conviction being challenged was obtained, and the   clerk shall assign the application to that court. When the   application is received by that court, a writ of habeas corpus,   returnable to the Court of Criminal Appeals, shall issue by   operation of law. The clerk of that court shall make appropriate   notation thereof, assign to the case a file number (ancillary to   that of the conviction being challenged), and forward a copy of the   application by certified mail, return receipt requested, by secure   electronic mail, or by personal service to the attorney   representing the state in that court, who shall answer the   application not later than the 30th [15th] day after the date the   copy of the application is received. Matters alleged in the   application not admitted by the state are deemed denied.          SECTION 2.  Section 3(b), Article 11.07, Code of Criminal   Procedure, as amended by this Act, applies 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 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.     * * * * *