74R10242 GWK-F
          By Hightower                                          H.B. No. 1980
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1980:
          By Pitts                                          C.S.H.B. No. 1980
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the procedures for investigating the death of a person
    1-3  confined in a facility operated by or under contract with the Texas
    1-4  Department of Criminal Justice; providing a penalty.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 501.055, Government Code, is amended to
    1-7  read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 501.055.  REPORT OF INMATE DEATH<; CRIMINAL PENALTY>.
    1-9  (a)  If an inmate dies while confined in a facility operated by or
   1-10  under contract with the department, <the custody of the
   1-11  institutional division, the director of the institutional division,
   1-12  or> an employee of the facility who is <division> in charge of the
   1-13  inmate shall immediately notify the nearest justice of the peace
   1-14  serving in the county in which the inmate died and the office of
   1-15  internal affairs for the department.  The justice shall personally
   1-16  inspect the body and make an inquiry as to the cause of death.  The
   1-17  justice shall make written copies of evidence taken during the
   1-18  inquest, and give one copy to the director and one copy to a
   1-19  district judge serving in the county in which the inmate died.  The
   1-20  judge  shall provide the copy to the grand jury and, if the judge
   1-21  determines the evidence indicates wrongdoing, instruct the grand
   1-22  jury to thoroughly investigate the cause of death.
   1-23        (b)  Subsection (a) does not apply if the inmate:
   1-24              (1)  dies of natural causes while attended by a
    2-1  physician and an autopsy is scheduled to be performed; or
    2-2              (2)  is lawfully executed.  <An employee of the
    2-3  institutional division commits an offense if the employee is in
    2-4  charge of an inmate who dies and the employee fails to immediately
    2-5  notify a justice of the peace of the death in the manner required
    2-6  by Subsection (a).>
    2-7        <(c)  An offense under Subsection (b) is a misdemeanor
    2-8  punishable by:>
    2-9              <(1)  a fine of not less than $100 or more than $500;
   2-10  and>
   2-11              <(2)  confinement in jail for not less than 60 days or
   2-12  more than one year.>
   2-13        SECTION 2.  Section 39.05, Penal Code, is amended to read as
   2-14  follows:
   2-15        Sec. 39.05.  FAILURE TO REPORT DEATH OF PRISONER.  (a)  A
   2-16  person commits an offense if the person is required to conduct an
   2-17  investigation and file a report by Article 49.18, Code of Criminal
   2-18  Procedure, and the person fails to investigate the death, fails to
   2-19  file the report as required, or fails to include in a filed report
   2-20  facts known or discovered in the investigation.
   2-21        (b)  A person commits an offense if the person is required by
   2-22  Section 501.055, Government Code, to:
   2-23              (1)  give notice of the death of an inmate and the
   2-24  person fails to give the notice; or
   2-25              (2)  conduct an investigation and file a report and the
   2-26  person:
   2-27                    (A)  fails to conduct the investigation or file
    3-1  the report; or
    3-2                    (B)  fails to include in the report facts known
    3-3  to the person or discovered by the person in the investigation.
    3-4        (c)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
    3-5        SECTION 3.  Article 49.04(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    3-6  amended to read as follows:
    3-7        (a)  A justice of the peace shall conduct an inquest into the
    3-8  death of a person who dies in the county served by the justice if:
    3-9              (1)  the person dies in prison under circumstances
   3-10  other than those described by Section 501.055(b), Government Code,
   3-11  or in jail;
   3-12              (2)  the person dies an unnatural death from a cause
   3-13  other than a legal execution;
   3-14              (3)  the body of the person is found and the cause or
   3-15  circumstances of death are unknown;
   3-16              (4)  the circumstances of the death indicate that the
   3-17  death may have been caused by unlawful means;
   3-18              (5)  the person commits suicide or the circumstances of
   3-19  the death indicate that the death may have been caused by suicide;
   3-20              (6)  the person dies without having been attended by a
   3-21  physician;
   3-22              (7)  the person dies while attended by a physician who
   3-23  is unable to certify the cause of death and who requests the
   3-24  justice of the peace to conduct an inquest; or
   3-25              (8)  the person is a child who is younger than 18
   3-26  months of age and the suspected cause of death is sudden infant
   3-27  death syndrome.
    4-1        SECTION 4.  Article 49.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
    4-2  amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
    4-3        (c)  This article does not apply to a death that occurs in a
    4-4  facility operated by or under contract with the Texas Department of
    4-5  Criminal Justice.
    4-6        SECTION 5.  (a)  The amendment by this Act of Section
    4-7  501.055, Government Code, does not apply to an offense committed
    4-8  under Subsection (c) of that section before the effective date of
    4-9  this Act.  An offense under Subsection (c) of that section
   4-10  committed before the effective date of this Act is covered by
   4-11  Section 501.055 as it existed on the date on which the offense was
   4-12  committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
   4-13  purpose.
   4-14        (b)  The amendment by this Act of Section 39.05, Penal Code,
   4-15  applies only to an offense under that section committed on or after
   4-16  the effective date of this Act.  An offense committed under Section
   4-17  39.05 before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law
   4-18  in effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is
   4-19  continued in effect for that purpose.
   4-20        (c)  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed
   4-21  before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
   4-22  occurs before that date.
   4-23        SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   4-24        SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
   4-25  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   4-26  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   4-27  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    5-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.