By Patterson                                     S.B. No. 918

      75R7053 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to funding the costs of apprehending certain inmates for

 1-3     whom warrants are issued by the Board of Pardons and Paroles or the

 1-4     pardons and paroles division of the Texas Department of Criminal

 1-5     Justice.

 1-6           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-7           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 411, Government Code, is

 1-8     amended by adding Section 411.0097 to read as follows:

 1-9           Sec. 411.0097.  FUGITIVE APPREHENSION ACCOUNT.  The fugitive

1-10     apprehension account is a special account in the general revenue

1-11     fund.  The legislature may appropriate funds in the account only

1-12     for the purpose of paying for the cost to the department of

1-13     apprehending  individuals for whom warrants have been issued under

1-14     Section 13, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure.  This

1-15     section expires September 1, 1999.

1-16           SECTION 2.  Article 56.54, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

1-17     amended by adding Subsection (h) to read as follows:

1-18           (h)  Not later than September 1, 1997, the comptroller shall

1-19     determine the amount of money credited on that date to the

1-20     compensation to victims of crime fund and to the compensation to

1-21     victims of crime auxiliary fund and shall also estimate the amount

1-22     of money that will be subsequently credited to those funds during

1-23     the biennium ending August 31, 1999.  The comptroller shall

1-24     determine whether the amount of money credited to the funds and the

 2-1     amount of money estimated to be subsequently credited to the funds

 2-2     during the biennium exceed the amount of money necessary during the

 2-3     biennium to pay compensation to claimants or victims under this

 2-4     subchapter and other expenses necessary in administering this

 2-5     subchapter.  If the comptroller determines that an excess amount of

 2-6     money exists in the accounts or will exist in the accounts, the

 2-7     comptroller shall transfer 30 percent of the excess amount from the

 2-8     compensation to victims of crime account to the fugitive

 2-9     apprehension account on September 1, 1997, if the money exists in

2-10     the accounts on that date or, if the money does not exist in the

2-11     accounts on that date, as the excess amount becomes available.

2-12     This subsection expires September 1, 1999.

2-13           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-18     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-19     passage, and it is so enacted.