House Bill No. by Representative Carlson amends Code of Criminal Procedure Article 780(B) to clarify the process for defendants wishing to waive their right to a jury trial. The bill stipulates that a defendant must file a written motion to waive the jury at least forty-five days before the trial date, and this motion must be signed by both the defendant and their counsel unless the right to counsel has been waived.

Additionally, the bill introduces provisions for the reassignment of cases when a motion to waive a jury trial is filed in a district court with three or more judges assigned to criminal matters. In such cases, the case will be randomly reassigned among the remaining judges unless the prosecuting authority files a written waiver of reassignment within ten days. Furthermore, if the waiver results in reassignment, it will interrupt the time periods outlined in Article 701, which will then restart.