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. 1-51 * * * * *