AEZ H.B. 1968 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE H.B. 1968 By: Garcia 4-2-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND A peace bond is a court ordered monetary deposit made by an individual accused of threatening to commit or intending to commit an offense against another individual. If the deposit cannot be made, a surety bond may be placed in its stead. If the accused commits the offense in question, either the peace bond is forfeited or the surety bond signers are held liable for the amount of the peace bond. The Code of Criminal Procedure does not grant a magistrate the power to impose any additional penalties on the violator of a peace bond apart from those penalties for the offense carried out. In cases where surety bonds are placed, there is no direct penalty to a violator of a peace bond for the violation of the bond itself. PURPOSE HB 1968, as proposed, would remove the surety bond "loophole" and give a magistrate greater flexibility in the imposition of a penalty for the violation of a peace bond. HB 1968 makes violation of a peace bond punishable for contempt under Section 21.002(c), Local Government Code. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1:Article 7.03, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to state that a magistrate must advise the recipient of a peace bond order that failure to meet the conditions of the peace bond could result in forfeiture of the bond as well as punishment for contempt under Section 21.002(c), Local Government Code. SECTION 2:Chapter 7, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended by adding Article 7.18 to state that violation of a bond is punishable by 1) Forfeiture of a the bond; 2) Imposition of the fine and confinement for contempt, or 3) Both forfeiture of the bond and imposition of the fine and confinement for contempt. SECTION 3:Change in law applicable only to peace bonds entered after the effective date of this act. SECTION 4:Effective Date: September 1, 1997 SECTION 5:Emergency Clause