SGN C.S.H.B. 1112 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS CORRECTIONS C.S.H.B. 1112 By: Hawley 4-14-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Current law provides that if a releasee violates parole, the State of Texas issues an arrest warrant, or "blue warrant" for the arrest of the parole violator. The counties are required to arrest and hold these state inmates. Current law provides that if the Board of Pardons and Paroles has not held a revocation hearing within 120 days from the arrest, the warrant must be withdrawn. During the original 120 days, a continuance may be requested for up to 60 days. An additional 30 days are also allowed after the hearing for disposition. Therefore, the worst case scenario that a releasee held on a blue warrant may be held in county jail is 210 days. However, the average stay in county jail on a blue warrant is 101 days. The counties are required to hold these violators with no way of knowing how long the inmate will be housed in their facility. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.H.B. 1112 will relieve the counties of overcrowded jails and the expenses incurred from holding prisoners under the state's warrant (blue warrant). C.S.S.B. 1112 will reduce the responsibility of the counties from the current maximum time limit of 210 days holding a prisoner on a blue warrant. This will be reduced to 60 days with a maximum liability of 90 days for extenuating circumstances. C.S.S.B. 1112 also eliminates a preliminary hearing for prisoner's or person's arrested on an administrative violation or found guilty of an offense committed after release. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that current rulemaking authority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles is referenced in SECTION 2, Sec. 14(a), Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure. No additional rulemaking authority is granted to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Section 13A as follows: Sec. 13A. TRANSFER PENDING REVOCATION HEARING. Allows the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, as provided by Section 14(h), to authorize a facility that is otherwise detaining or housing a prisoner or person, to transfer those persons to a correctional facility operated by the department or under contract with the department if the TDCJ determines adequate space is available in the facility to which the person is being transferred, and this facility is located not more than 150 miles from the facility from which the inmate is to be transferred. SECTION 2. Amends Section 14, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: Sec. 14. HEARINGS; SANCTIONS. (a) Provides that when a prisoner or person is accused of violating parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional pardon, on information and complaint by a law enforcement officer or parole officer, the prisoner shall be entitled to be heard on such charges before a parole panel within a period that permits a parole panel, board designee, or the department to dispose of the charges within the periods established by Subsections (c) and (d). (b) Requires a parole panel or board designee to provide, within a reasonable time, to a prisoner or person described by Subsection (a), a preliminary hearing to determine whether probable cause or reasonable grounds exist to believe that the prisoner has committed an act in violation of a condition of release. Provides that this hearing must occur unless the prisoner or person waives the preliminary hearing; or after release the person has been charged only with an administrative violation of a condition of release; or has been adjudicated guilty, pled guilty or nolo contendre to an offense committed after release, other than traffic violation, regardless of whether the court deferred disposition of the case, imposed a sentence in the case, or placed the prisoner or person on community supervision. (c) Requires a parole panel, board designee, or department, except as provided by Subsection (d), to dispose of the charges against a prisoner or person described by Subsection (a): (1) before the 61st day after the date on which: (A) a blue warrant is executed; the prisoner or person is arrested for an administrative violation; and the prisoner or person is not charged before the 61st day with the commission of an offense described by Subsection (b)(2)(B); or (B) the sheriff having custody of a prisoner or person alleged to have committed an offense after release notifies the department that the prisoner or person has discharged the sentence for the offense; or the charges have been dropped by the state's attorney; or (2) within a reasonable time after the date on which the prisoner or person is returned to the custody of the department if immediately before the return, the prisoner or person was in custody in another state or in a federal correctional system; or the prisoner or person is transferred to the custody of the department under Section 13A. (d) Provides that a parole panel, board designee, or the department is not required to dispose of the charges against a prisoner or person within the period required by Subsection (c) if: (1) the prisoner or person is in custody in another state or a federal correctional institution; (2) the parole panel or board designee is not provided a place by the sheriff to hold the hearing, in which event the department, parole panel, or designee is not required to dispose of the charges against the prisoner or person until the 60th day after the date on which the sheriff provides a place to hold a hearing; or (3) the prisoner or person is granted a continuance by a parole panel or a board designee in the prisoner's or person's hearing, but in no event may a parole panel, designee, or the department dispose of the charges against the person later than the 30th day after the date on which the parole panel, designee, or department would otherwise be required to dispose of the charges under this section. (e) Deletes language that provides that a parole panel or designee must make its recommendation or decision no later than the 30th day after the date the hearing is concluded. (f) and (g) are current language that are divided into subsections. (h) Provides that in Subsections (c) and (d), charges against a prisoner or person are disposed of when: (1) the prisoner's or person's conditional pardon, parole, or release on mandatory supervision is revoked and the prisoner is transferred from the custody of the sheriff to the department; or continued or modified and the prisoner or person is released from the county jail; (2) the warrant is withdrawn; (3) the prisoner or person is transferred to a facility described by Section 13A. SECTION 3. Provides that the change in law made by this Act to Section 14, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, applies only to a prisoner or person for whom a warrant issued under Section 13, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, is executed on or after the effective date of this Act. SECTION 4. Effective date: January 1, 1998. SECTION 5. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The original bill eliminated a preliminary hearing for a prisoner or person detained on a blue warrant and provided that a revocation hearing must be provided within 60 days of the date of arrest under a blue warrant. The original bill also provided that if a county facility requested TDCJ to transfer the prisoner or person to a TDCJ facility and the TDCJ refused to authorize the transfer, the department was required to reimburse the county for the cost of medical care for the inmate. The substitute maintains a preliminary hearing, but provides that the hearing must be held within a reasonable time and the person may waive the hearing. The preliminary hearing is eliminated if the prisoner has been charged with an administrative violation or has been found guilty, pled guilty or nolo contendre to an offense committed after release. The substitute also allows the TDCJ to use state facilities or contracted state facilities to hold parolees after removing them from the county jails pending a revocation hearing.