1-1           By:  Shapiro                                      S.B. No. 51

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed November 12, 1996; January 14, 1997,

 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;

 1-4     March 5, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,

 1-5     Nays 0; March 5, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to  the forfeiture of good conduct time by certain inmates

 1-9     confined in the institutional division or a transfer facility of

1-10     the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Chapter 498, Government Code, is amended by

1-13     adding Section 498.0042 to read as follows:

1-14           Sec. 498.0042.  FORFEITURE FOR CONTACTING VICTIMS.  (a)  The

1-15     board shall adopt rules that prohibit an inmate in the

1-16     institutional division or in a transfer facility from contacting by

1-17     letter, telephone, or any other means, either directly or

1-18     indirectly, a victim of the offense for which the inmate is serving

1-19     a sentence, if:

1-20                 (1)  the victim was younger than 17 years of age at the

1-21     time of the commission of the offense; and

1-22                 (2)  the department has not, before the inmate makes

1-23     contact:

1-24                       (A)  received written consent to the contact

1-25     from:

1-26                             (i)  a parent of the victim, other than the

1-27     inmate;

1-28                             (ii)  a legal guardian of the victim; or

1-29                             (iii)  the victim, if the victim is 17

1-30     years of age or older at the time of giving the consent; and

1-31                       (B)  provided the inmate with a copy of the

1-32     consent.

1-33           (b)  If, during the actual term of imprisonment of an inmate

1-34     in the institutional division or a transfer facility, the inmate

1-35     violates a rule adopted under Subsection (a), the department shall

1-36     forfeit all or any part of the inmate's accrued good conduct time.

1-37     The department may not restore good conduct time forfeited under

1-38     this subsection.

1-39           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies to an

1-40     inmate who violates a rule adopted by the Texas Board of Criminal

1-41     Justice under Section 498.0042, Government Code, as added by this

1-42     Act, on or after the effective date of the rule, regardless of

1-43     whether the inmate is serving a sentence for an offense committed

1-44     before, on, or after the effective date of the rule.

1-45           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-46           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-47     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-48     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-49     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-50     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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