By:  Moncrief, West                                    S.B. No. 113

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the duty of the pardons and paroles division of the

 1-2     Texas Department of Criminal Justice to notify law enforcement of a

 1-3     prisoner's pending release or transfer to a halfway house.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subsection (h), Section 8, Article 42.18, Code of

 1-6     Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (h)  It shall be the duty of the pardons and paroles division

 1-8     at least 10 days before the board orders the parole of any prisoner

 1-9     or at least 10 days after recommending the granting of executive

1-10     clemency by the governor to notify the sheriff, each chief of

1-11     police, the prosecuting attorney, and the district judge in the

1-12     county where such person was convicted and the county to which the

1-13     prisoner is released that such parole or clemency is being

1-14     considered by the board or by the governor.  For any case in which

1-15     there was a change of venue, the pardons and paroles division shall

1-16     notify those same officials in the county in which the prosecution

1-17     was originated if, no later than 30 days after the date on which

1-18     the defendant was sentenced, those officials request in writing

1-19     that the pardons and paroles division give them notice under this

1-20     section of any future release of the prisoner.  Additionally, no

1-21     later than the 10th day after the parole panel orders the transfer

1-22     of a prisoner to a halfway house under this article, the pardons

1-23     and paroles division shall notify the sheriff of the county in

 2-1     which the prisoner was convicted and shall notify the sheriff, each

 2-2     chief of police, [of the county in which the halfway house is

 2-3     located] and the attorney who represents the state in the

 2-4     prosecution of felonies in the county in which the halfway house is

 2-5     located [in that county].  The notice must state the prisoner's

 2-6     name, the county in which the prisoner was convicted, and the

 2-7     offense for which the prisoner was convicted.

 2-8           SECTION 2.  Subsection (e), Section 8A, Article 42.18, Code

 2-9     of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

2-10           (e)  If a parole panel requires the defendant to reside in a

2-11     county other than the county required by Subsection (a) of this

2-12     section, the panel shall state the reason for its decision in

2-13     writing, and place the statement in the defendant's permanent

2-14     record.  The pardons and paroles division shall include the reason

2-15     for residency exemption in the required notification to the sheriff

2-16     of the county in which the defendant is to reside, the chief of

2-17     police of the municipality in which the halfway house is located,

2-18     and the attorney who represents the state in the prosecution of

2-19     felonies in that county.

2-20           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-21           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.