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House Bill 385 |
House Author: Pacheco et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-21 |
Senate Sponsor: Hughes et al. |
House Bill 385 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to revise provisions relating to the conditions, reduction, and termination of community supervision. The bill expands the purposes for which a supervision officer or magistrate may modify a defendant's community supervision conditions, revises the basic discretionary conditions of community supervision, and authorizes a community supervision and corrections department to develop a defendant's drug or alcohol abuse continuum of care treatment plan required as a supervision condition. The bill sets out provisions relating to a court's duty to consider a defendant's ability to make payments, excluding restitution, at certain times before and during community supervision and to determine how the payments should be discharged. The bill provides for a defendant's right to request reconsideration of their ability to pay and for the court's review of that request.
House Bill 385 removes delinquency in paying required costs, fines, or fees as a factor that disqualifies a defendant from receiving time credits for completion of certain conditions of community supervision or from being reviewed and considered for a reduction or termination of a community supervision period. The bill provides for such a review and consideration for a defendant who was previously ineligible for such based on delinquency in paying restitution or incompletion of court‑ordered counseling or treatment and for a judge's authority to reduce or terminate the defendant's community supervision and sets out certain notice requirements if the judge does not terminate the supervision after the review.