HBA-SEB C.S.H.B. 2124 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2124 By: Cuellar Juvenile Justice and Family Issues 4/12/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, a magistrate is authorized to issue an order for emergency protection in a case involving family violence. The order prevents the defendant from going within 200 yards of the victim for 31 days. In many cases, however, the magistrate does not issue an order for emergency protection. A victim of domestic violence who is not under such an order may be in danger if the defendant is released from jail. C.S.H.B. 2124 requires a magistrate to issue an order for emergency protection in a family violence case if the victim sustained serious injury or the defendant used or exhibited a deadly weapon. It also modifies the definitions of "notice" and "family violence." 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 Article 17.292, Code of Criminal Procedure, to require a magistrate to issue an order for emergency protection at a defendant's appearance before the magistrate if an arrest involving family violence includes serious injury to the victim or the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon during the commission of an assault. Redesignates Subsections (c)-(k) to (d)-(l). SECTION 2. Amends Section 30.05(b)(2), Penal Code, to include in the definition of "notice" a written communication contained in a court order posted on the property or delivered to a person that prohibits the person from going to or near a specific location, including a temporary ex parte order or a protective order rendered under Title 4, Family Code (Protective Orders and Family Violence), or a magistrate's order for emergency protection rendered under Article 17.292, Code of Criminal Procedure (Magistrate's Order for Emergency Protection). SECTION 3. Amends Section 71.004, Family Code, to redefine a provision of the definition of "family violence" to specify that a member of a family or household is reasonably placed in fear of physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault rather than in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault. SECTION 4. Makes application of Section 2 of this Act prospective. SECTION 5. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 6. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 1 by amending Article 17.292, Code of Criminal Procedure, by creating a new Subsection (b) to require a magistrate to issue an order for emergency protection if an arrest involving family violence includes serious injury to the victim or the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon during the commission of an assault. The substitute redesignates existing Subsections (c)-(k) to (d)-(l). The original would have amended Subsection (a) to require, rather than authorize, a magistrate to issue an order for emergency protection at a defendant's appearance before the magistrate for an offense involving family violence or stalking. The substitute reinstates text that was deleted in the original, which specifies the persons eligible to initiate or request an order for emergency protection. The substitute modifies the original by deleting proposed SECTION 4, which would have amended Section 153.252, Family Code, to provide that a finding of a history of family violence committed by the parent of a child removes the presumption that a standard possession order provides reasonable minimum possession of a child for a parent named as possessory conservator or joint managing conservator and is in the best interest of the child. The substitute modifies the original by deleting proposed SECTION 6, which would have made application of SECTION 4 of this Act, now deleted, prospective. The substitute redesignates SECTIONS 5, 7, and 8 of the original to SECTIONS 4, 5, and 6 of the substitute, respectively.