By Keel                                          H.B. No. 373

      75R3062 GWK-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the forfeiture of commutation of time for good conduct

 1-3     by an inmate of a county jail who files a frivolous or malicious

 1-4     lawsuit.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 5, Article 42.032, Code of Criminal

 1-7     Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 5.  Any part or all of the commutation accrued under

 1-9     this article may be forfeited and taken away by the sheriff:

1-10                 (1)  for a sustained charge of misconduct in violation

1-11     of any rule known to the defendant, including escape or attempt to

1-12     escape, if the sheriff has complied with discipline proceedings as

1-13     approved by the Commission on Jail Standards; or

1-14                 (2)  on receipt by the sheriff of a certified copy of a

1-15     final order of a state or federal court that dismisses as frivolous

1-16     or malicious a lawsuit brought by a defendant while the defendant

1-17     was in the custody of the sheriff.

1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 5, Article 42.032, Code of Criminal

1-19     Procedure, as amended by this Act, applies only to a forfeiture of

1-20     commutation of time for good conduct based on the filing in court

1-21     of a lawsuit on or after the effective date of this Act.

1-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 2-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-4     passage, and it is so enacted.