H.B. No. 2159
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the enforcement of a protective order by a constable.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sections 3.582(b) and (d), Family Code, are
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 (b) The clerk of the court issuing an original or modified
1-7 protective order under Section 3.581 of this code shall send a copy
1-8 of the order to the chief of police of the city where the member of
1-9 the family or household protected by the order resides, if the
1-10 person resides in a city, or to the appropriate constable and the
1-11 sheriff of the county where the person resides, if the person does
1-12 not reside in a city.
1-13 (d) The clerk of a court vacating or dismissing an original
1-14 or modified protective order under Section 3.581 of this code shall
1-15 notify the constable, chief of police, or sheriff who received a
1-16 copy of the original or modified order that the order is vacated.
1-17 SECTION 2. Section 3.583, Family Code, is amended to read as
1-18 follows:
1-19 Sec. 3.583. DUTIES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. In order to
1-20 ensure that officers responding to calls are aware of the existence
1-21 and terms of protective orders issued under Section 3.581 of this
1-22 code, each municipal police department, constable, and sheriff
1-23 shall establish procedures within the department or office to
2-1 provide adequate information or access to information for law
2-2 enforcement officers of the names of persons protected by orders
2-3 issued under Section 3.581 of this code and of persons to whom
2-4 protective orders are directed.
2-5 SECTION 3. Section 71.15(i), Family Code, is amended to read
2-6 as follows:
2-7 (i) On the request of a person obtaining an order that
2-8 excludes another person from the other person's residence, the
2-9 court that granted the order may order the sheriff, constable, or
2-10 chief of police to provide a law enforcement officer <from the
2-11 department of the sheriff or the chief of police>:
2-12 (1) to accompany the person obtaining the order to the
2-13 residence covered by the order;
2-14 (2) to protect the person obtaining the order while
2-15 the person takes possession of the residence; and
2-16 (3) if the person obtaining the order is unable to
2-17 take possession of the residence because the person being excluded
2-18 occupies the residence, to inform the person being excluded that
2-19 the court has ordered the person excluded from the residence.
2-20 SECTION 4. Sections 71.17(b) and (d), Family Code, are
2-21 amended to read as follows:
2-22 (b) The clerk of the court issuing an original or modified
2-23 protective order under this chapter shall send a copy of the order
2-24 to the chief of police of the city where the member of the family
2-25 or household protected by the order resides, if the person resides
3-1 in a city, or to the appropriate constable and the sheriff of the
3-2 county where the person resides, if the person does not reside in a
3-3 city.
3-4 (d) The clerk of a court vacating an original or modified
3-5 protective order under this chapter shall notify the constable,
3-6 chief of police, or sheriff who received a copy of the original or
3-7 modified order that the order is vacated.
3-8 SECTION 5. Section 71.18, Family Code, is amended to read as
3-9 follows:
3-10 Sec. 71.18. DUTIES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. (a) In
3-11 order to insure that officers responding to calls are aware of the
3-12 existence and terms of protective orders issued under this chapter,
3-13 each municipal police department, constable, and sheriff shall
3-14 establish procedures within the department or office to provide
3-15 adequate information or access to information for law enforcement
3-16 officers of the names of persons protected by order issued under
3-17 this chapter and of persons to whom protective orders are directed.
3-18 (b) The municipal police department, constable, or sheriff
3-19 may enter the protective order in the department's, constable's, or
3-20 sheriff's computer record of outstanding warrants as notice that
3-21 the order has been issued and is currently in effect. On
3-22 notification by a clerk of a court that the court has vacated or
3-23 dismissed the order, the municipal police department, constable, or
3-24 sheriff shall remove the order from the department's, constable's,
3-25 or sheriff's computer record of outstanding warrants.
4-1 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
4-2 applies only to a protective order issued on or after that date. A
4-3 protective order issued before the effective date of this Act is
4-4 governed by the law in effect on the date the protective order was
4-5 issued, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
4-6 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
4-7 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-8 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-9 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-10 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.