1-1 By: Shapiro S.B. No. 44
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed November 14, 1994; January 10, 1995,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 February 15, 1995, reported favorably, as amended, by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; February 15, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1 By: Shapiro
1-7 Amend S.B. No. 44 as follows:
1-8 (1) Insert a new Section 3 as follows:
1-9 SECTION 3. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
1-10 only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this
1-11 Act. For the purposes of this section, an offense is committed
1-12 before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense
1-13 occurs before the effective date.
1-14 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
1-15 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
1-16 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-17 (2) Renumber subsequent sections accordingly.
1-18 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-19 AN ACT
1-20 relating to the restoration of good conduct time forfeited by an
1-21 inmate of the institutional division of the Texas Department of
1-22 Criminal Justice.
1-23 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-24 SECTION 1. Section 498.004, Government Code, is amended to
1-25 read as follows:
1-26 Sec. 498.004. Forfeiture and Restoration of Good Conduct
1-27 Time. (a) If, during the actual term of imprisonment of an inmate
1-28 in the institutional division, the inmate commits an offense or
1-29 violates a rule of the division, the director of the institutional
1-30 division may forfeit all or any part of the inmate's accrued good
1-31 conduct time. The director of the institutional division may not
1-32 restore good conduct time forfeited under this subsection <subject
1-33 to rules adopted by the institutional division>.
1-34 (b) On the revocation of parole or mandatory supervision of
1-35 an inmate, the inmate forfeits all good conduct time previously
1-36 accrued. On return to the institutional division the inmate may
1-37 accrue new good conduct time for subsequent time served in the
1-38 division. The director of the institutional division may not
1-39 restore good conduct time forfeited on a revocation <that does not
1-40 involve a new criminal conviction after the inmate has served at
1-41 least three months of good behavior in the institutional division,
1-42 subject to rules adopted by the division>. <Not later than the
1-43 60th day after the date an inmate is returned to the institutional
1-44 division following a revocation of parole or mandatory supervision,
1-45 the pardons and paroles division shall notify the director of the
1-46 institutional division of the grounds for revocation.>
1-47 SECTION 2. Section 498.005, Government Code, is amended to
1-48 read as follows:
1-49 Sec. 498.005. Annual Review of Classification; <Restoration
1-50 of Good Time;> Retroactive Award of Good Time. At least annually,
1-51 the board shall review the institutional division's rules relating
1-52 to <restoration of good conduct time that has been forfeited,> the
1-53 manner in which inmates are reclassified<,> and the manner in which
1-54 additional good conduct time is awarded retroactively to inmates
1-55 who have been reclassified. The board shall consider in its review
1-56 whether the inmate overcrowding in the institutional division has
1-57 decreased and whether it is necessary for purposes of decreasing
1-58 overcrowding to classify inmates according to Section 498.002 <to
1-59 restore good conduct time under Section 498.004,> or to award
1-60 additional good conduct time retroactively to inmates who have been
1-61 reclassified. If the board determines that overcrowding has
1-62 decreased and it is not necessary to <restore good conduct time or>
1-63 award additional good conduct time, it shall direct the
1-64 institutional division to discontinue that practice <those
1-65 practices>.
1-66 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
1-67 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-68 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-4 * * * * *