1-1 By: Grusendorf (Senate Sponsor - Shapiro) H.B. No. 2159
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 1, 1995;
1-3 May 2, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
1-4 Justice; May 10, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 10, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the enforcement of a protective order by a constable.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Sections 3.582(b) and (d), Family Code, are
1-11 amended to read as follows:
1-12 (b) The clerk of the court issuing an original or modified
1-13 protective order under Section 3.581 of this code shall send a copy
1-14 of the order to the chief of police of the city where the member of
1-15 the family or household protected by the order resides, if the
1-16 person resides in a city, or to the appropriate constable and the
1-17 sheriff of the county where the person resides, if the person does
1-18 not reside in a city.
1-19 (d) The clerk of a court vacating or dismissing an original
1-20 or modified protective order under Section 3.581 of this code shall
1-21 notify the constable, chief of police, or sheriff who received a
1-22 copy of the original or modified order that the order is vacated.
1-23 SECTION 2. Section 3.583, Family Code, is amended to read as
1-24 follows:
1-25 Sec. 3.583. DUTIES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. In order to
1-26 ensure that officers responding to calls are aware of the existence
1-27 and terms of protective orders issued under Section 3.581 of this
1-28 code, each municipal police department, constable, and sheriff
1-29 shall establish procedures within the department or office to
1-30 provide adequate information or access to information for law
1-31 enforcement officers of the names of persons protected by orders
1-32 issued under Section 3.581 of this code and of persons to whom
1-33 protective orders are directed.
1-34 SECTION 3. Section 71.15(i), Family Code, is amended to read
1-35 as follows:
1-36 (i) On the request of a person obtaining an order that
1-37 excludes another person from the other person's residence, the
1-38 court that granted the order may order the sheriff, constable, or
1-39 chief of police to provide a law enforcement officer <from the
1-40 department of the sheriff or the chief of police>:
1-41 (1) to accompany the person obtaining the order to the
1-42 residence covered by the order;
1-43 (2) to protect the person obtaining the order while
1-44 the person takes possession of the residence; and
1-45 (3) if the person obtaining the order is unable to
1-46 take possession of the residence because the person being excluded
1-47 occupies the residence, to inform the person being excluded that
1-48 the court has ordered the person excluded from the residence.
1-49 SECTION 4. Sections 71.17(b) and (d), Family Code, are
1-50 amended to read as follows:
1-51 (b) The clerk of the court issuing an original or modified
1-52 protective order under this chapter shall send a copy of the order
1-53 to the chief of police of the city where the member of the family
1-54 or household protected by the order resides, if the person resides
1-55 in a city, or to the appropriate constable and the sheriff of the
1-56 county where the person resides, if the person does not reside in a
1-57 city.
1-58 (d) The clerk of a court vacating an original or modified
1-59 protective order under this chapter shall notify the constable,
1-60 chief of police, or sheriff who received a copy of the original or
1-61 modified order that the order is vacated.
1-62 SECTION 5. Section 71.18, Family Code, is amended to read as
1-63 follows:
1-64 Sec. 71.18. DUTIES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. (a) In
1-65 order to insure that officers responding to calls are aware of the
1-66 existence and terms of protective orders issued under this chapter,
1-67 each municipal police department, constable, and sheriff shall
1-68 establish procedures within the department or office to provide
2-1 adequate information or access to information for law enforcement
2-2 officers of the names of persons protected by order issued under
2-3 this chapter and of persons to whom protective orders are directed.
2-4 (b) The municipal police department, constable, or sheriff
2-5 may enter the protective order in the department's, constable's, or
2-6 sheriff's computer record of outstanding warrants as notice that
2-7 the order has been issued and is currently in effect. On
2-8 notification by a clerk of a court that the court has vacated or
2-9 dismissed the order, the municipal police department, constable, or
2-10 sheriff shall remove the order from the department's, constable's,
2-11 or sheriff's computer record of outstanding warrants.
2-12 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
2-13 applies only to a protective order issued on or after that date. A
2-14 protective order issued before the effective date of this Act is
2-15 governed by the law in effect on the date the protective order was
2-16 issued, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-17 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
2-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-22 * * * * *