1-1     By:  Moncrief                                          S.B. No. 113

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

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

 1-4     April 3, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee

 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; April 3, 1997,

 1-6     sent to printer.)

 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 113                     By:  West

 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-9                                   AN ACT

1-10     relating to the duty of the pardons and paroles division of the

1-11     Texas Department of Criminal Justice to notify law enforcement of a

1-12     prisoner's pending release or transfer to a halfway house.

1-13           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-14           SECTION 1.  Subsection (h), Section 8, Article 42.18, Code of

1-15     Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

1-16           (h)  It shall be the duty of the pardons and paroles division

1-17     at least 10 days before the board orders the parole of any prisoner

1-18     or at least 10 days after recommending the granting of executive

1-19     clemency by the governor to notify the sheriff, each chief of

1-20     police, the prosecuting attorney, and the district judge in the

1-21     county where such person was convicted and the county to which the

1-22     prisoner is released that such parole or clemency is being

1-23     considered by the board or by the governor.  For any case in which

1-24     there was a change of venue, the pardons and paroles division shall

1-25     notify those same officials in the county in which the prosecution

1-26     was originated if, no later than 30 days after the date on which

1-27     the defendant was sentenced, those officials request in writing

1-28     that the pardons and paroles division give them notice under this

1-29     section of any future release of the prisoner.  Additionally, no

1-30     later than the 10th day after the parole panel orders the transfer

1-31     of a prisoner to a halfway house under this article, the pardons

1-32     and paroles division shall notify the sheriff of the county in

1-33     which the prisoner was convicted and shall notify the sheriff, each

1-34     chief of police, [of the county in which the halfway house is

1-35     located] and the attorney who represents the state in the

1-36     prosecution of felonies in the county in which the halfway house is

1-37     located [in that county].  The notice must state the prisoner's

1-38     name, the county in which the prisoner was convicted, and the

1-39     offense for which the prisoner was convicted.

1-40           SECTION 2.  Subsection (e), Section 8A, Article 42.18, Code

1-41     of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

1-42           (e)  If a parole panel requires the defendant to reside in a

1-43     county other than the county required by Subsection (a) of this

1-44     section, the panel shall state the reason for its decision in

1-45     writing, and place the statement in the defendant's permanent

1-46     record.  The pardons and paroles division shall include the reason

1-47     for residency exemption in the required notification to the sheriff

1-48     of the county in which the defendant is to reside, the chief of

1-49     police of the municipality in which the halfway house is located,

1-50     and the attorney who represents the state in the prosecution of

1-51     felonies in that county.

1-52           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-53           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-54     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-55     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-56     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-57     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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