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.
1-58 * * * * *