BILL ANALYSIS Corrections Committee H.B. 253 By: Alvarado 04-18-95 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND Texas parole officers sometimes have limited information on their parolees' criminal background. Parole officers are provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) a case summary prepared by Transitional Planning which includes the offense of record, time served, offender's address upon release, substance abuse data, employment information, criminal history and facts surrounding the offense. The institutional division receives several documents that must be received before they will accept the inmate from a county. Some of these documents are: a copy of the judgment entered by the Court; a written report stating the nature and the seriousness of each offense; a copy of the Victim Impact Statement--if one was prepared; a copy of the record of arrest for each offense; and a copy of the presentence or postsentence investigation report. This information that the institutional division has may be helpful to a parole officer in their treatment of their parolees. PURPOSE To require the institutional division of TDCJ to provide the pardons and paroles division copies of documents received including Pre-sentence Investigation Reports, criminal history rap sheets, Victim Impact Statements and other essential information. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1: Amends Section 8(d), Article 42.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, to require the institutional division, upon the release of a defendant on parole or to mandatory supervision, to immediately provide the pardons and parole division with copies of documents provided to the institutional division upon the defendants arrival to TDCJ. Also requires the pardons and parole division to provide these copies to the parole officer appointed to supervise the defendant no later than 14 days after the date of the defendant's release. SECTION 2: Effective date: September 1, 1995. SECTION 3: Emergency clause. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS The proposed committee amendment requires the pardons and paroles division to provide to the parole officer a comprehensive summary of the information contained in the documents referenced in this section. The amendment provides that this summary shall include a current photograph of the defendant and a complete set of the defendant's fingerprints. The amendment also provides that upon written request from the county sheriff, the photograph and fingerprints shall be filed with the sheriff of the county to which the parolee is assigned if that county is not the county from the which parolee was sentenced. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION H.B. 253 was considered by the Committee on Corrections in a public hearing on March 14, 1995. The Chair recognized Representative Alvarado to explain the bill. The Chair recognized the following person to testify neutrally on the bill: Melinda Bozarth, representing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; and Alex McAlmon, representing the Texas State Comptroller of Public Accounts. The bill was referred to a subcommittee to be named later by the Chair. After being recalled from subcommittee, the bill was considered by the committee in a public hearing on April 18, 1995. The committee considered one amendment to the bill. The amendment was adopted without objection. The bill was reported favorably, as amended, to the full House with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed by a record vote of 6 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, and 3 absent.