By Keel                                                H.B. No. 117
         76R2003 GWK-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the forfeiture of commutation of time for good conduct
 1-3     by an inmate of a county jail who files a frivolous or malicious
 1-4     lawsuit.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Section 5, Article 42.032, Code of Criminal
 1-7     Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 5.  Any part or all of the commutation accrued under
 1-9     this article may be forfeited and taken away by the sheriff:
1-10                 (1)  for a sustained charge of misconduct in violation
1-11     of any rule known to the defendant, including escape or attempt to
1-12     escape, if the sheriff has complied with discipline proceedings as
1-13     approved by the Commission on Jail Standards; or
1-14                 (2)  on receipt by the sheriff of a certified copy of a
1-15     final order of a state or federal court that dismisses as frivolous
1-16     or malicious a lawsuit brought by a defendant while the defendant
1-17     was in the custody of the sheriff.
1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 5, Article 42.032, Code of Criminal
1-19     Procedure, as amended by this Act, applies only to a forfeiture of
1-20     commutation of time for good conduct based on the filing in court
1-21     of a lawsuit on or after the effective date of this Act.
1-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-4     passage, and it is so enacted.