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.