BILL ANALYSIS


                                                         H.B. 253
                                          By: Alvarado (Whitmire)
                                                 Criminal Justice
                                                         05-22-95
                              Senate Committee Report (Unamended)
BACKGROUND

Texas parole officers sometimes have limited information on a
parolees' criminal background.  The Texas Department of Criminal
Justice provides parole officers with 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.  Currently, the institutional division is not required to
forward this information with an inmate who is released on
community supervision to the pardons and paroles division.

PURPOSE

As proposed, H.B. 253 requires the institutional division of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice 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 necessary information.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or
agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 8(d), Article 42.09, Code of Criminal
Procedure, to require the institutional division of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice to make documents received under
Subsections (a) and (c) available to the pardons and paroles
division on the request of the pardons and paroles division and, on
release of a defendant on parole to mandatory supervision, to
immediately provide the pardons and paroles division with copies of
documents received under Subsection (a).  Requires the pardons and
paroles division to provided to the parole officer appointed to
supervise the defendant a comprehensive summary of the information
contained in the documents referenced in this section not later
than the 14th day after the date of the defendant's release. 
Requires the summary to include a current photograph of the
defendant and a complete set of the defendants fingerprints. 
Requires the photograph and fingerprints, upon written request from
the county sheriff, to be filed with sheriff of the county to which
the parolee is assigned if that county is not the county from which
the parolee was sentenced.

SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1995.

SECTION 3. Emergency clause.