By Moncrief                                            S.B. No. 113

      75R238 PEP-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the duty of the pardons and paroles division of the

 1-3     Texas Department of Criminal Justice to notify law enforcement of a

 1-4     prisoner's pending release or transfer to a halfway house.

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

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 8(h), Article 42.18, Code of Criminal

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

 1-8           (h)  It shall be the duty of the pardons and paroles division

 1-9     at least 10 days before the board orders the parole of any prisoner

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

1-11     clemency by the governor to notify the sheriff, each chief of

1-12     police, the prosecuting attorney, and the district judge in the

1-13     county where such person was convicted and the county to which the

1-14     prisoner is released that such parole or clemency is being

1-15     considered by the board or by the governor.  For any case in which

1-16     there was a change of venue, the pardons and paroles division shall

1-17     notify those same officials in the county in which the prosecution

1-18     was originated if, no later than 30 days after the date on which

1-19     the defendant was sentenced, those officials request in writing

1-20     that the pardons and paroles division give them notice under this

1-21     section of any future release of the prisoner.  Additionally, no

1-22     later than the 10th day after the parole panel orders the transfer

1-23     of a prisoner to a halfway house under this article, the pardons

1-24     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.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 2-9           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.