HBA-JRA H.B. 74 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 74
By: Solomons
County Affairs
2/17/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, an inmate of a county jail is not required to reimburse the
county for the cost of the inmate's confinement.  Requiring inmates to
reimburse the county may reduce the burden on taxpayers and provide
additional deterrence to potential criminals.  H.B. 74 authorizes a court
to require a defendant sentenced to serve a term of confinement in a county
jail to reimburse the county for the cost of confinement. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Chapter 42, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding
Article 42.038, as follows: 

Art. 42.038.  REIMBURSEMENT FOR CONFINEMENT EXPENSES.  (a)  Authorizes a
court to require a defendant convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to
serve a term of confinement in county jail to reimburse the county for the
average daily cost of confining a defendant as determined by the
commissioner's court, or $25 a day, whichever is less. 

(b)  Authorizes a court to require a defendant sentenced to a period of
confinement as a condition of community supervision in county jail
resulting from either a conviction or a deferred adjudication of a
misdemeanor, to reimburse the county in an amount equal to serving the
sentence. 

(c)  Limits a court to require reimbursement only for those days a
defendant is confined after the date of conviction or on which a plea of
guilty or nolo contendere is entered. 

(d)  Requires the court to consider the defendant's employment status,
earning ability, financial resources and other circumstances that may
affect ability to pay when determining whether to order reimbursement. 

(e)  Requires the sheriff to present a bill to the defendant on the day the
sentence of confinement is completed.  Specifies that the bill is to be
computed by multiplying the daily rate by the number of days confined, not
counting the day the confinement began. Specifies that a portion of a day
is considered a full day. 

(f)  Authorizes a court to require a defendant to reimburse the county
within a specified period or in installments, the last of which may be no
later than the end of community supervision or five years from the last day
of confinement if community supervision is not ordered. 

SECTION 2.  Amends Section 2(b), Article 42.22, Code of Criminal Procedure,
to provide that the state may impose a restitution lien to secure the
amount of reimbursement for costs of confinement. Creates two subdivisions
from new and existing text. 
 
SECTION 3.  Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 4.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 5.  Emergency clause.