By Lewis of Tarrant H.B. No. 490
76R870 JMC-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the procedures and standards governing release on
1-3 personal bond.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Chapter 17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-6 amended by adding Article 17.033 to read as follows:
1-7 Art. 17.033. PERSONAL BOND OFFICE REPORT REQUIRED. (a) In
1-8 a county with a personal bond office, a judge or magistrate may
1-9 not release a defendant to whom this article applies on personal
1-10 bond unless the judge or magistrate orders the personal bond office
1-11 to prepare a report on the accused as provided by Section 1,
1-12 Article 17.42, and the judge or magistrate has examined the report.
1-13 (b) This article applies to a defendant who:
1-14 (1) is charged with an offense listed in Section
1-15 3g(a)(1), Article 42.12, or described by Section 3g(a)(2), Article
1-16 42.12;
1-17 (2) is charged with a capital felony or a felony of
1-18 the first degree;
1-19 (3) has been convicted of a felony and served a
1-20 sentence in a correctional facility for that conviction;
1-21 (4) has been on community supervision, probation, or a
1-22 similar form of supervision for a felony within the five years
1-23 preceding the date the offense is alleged to have occurred;
1-24 (5) is charged with the commission of an offense while
2-1 on community supervision, probation, or a similar form of
2-2 supervision in connection with the commission of another offense;
2-3 (6) is charged with the commission of an offense while
2-4 released on bail or personal bond in connection with another
2-5 offense;
2-6 (7) has been previously convicted of another offense
2-7 under the same statute as the offense for which the defendant has
2-8 been arrested;
2-9 (8) has been charged with two or more offenses alleged
2-10 to have been committed in the same criminal episode;
2-11 (9) is a known or admitted member of a criminal street
2-12 gang as defined by Section 71.01, Penal Code;
2-13 (10) has had bail set in the case in an amount that
2-14 exceeds $10,000; or
2-15 (11) is charged with an offense listed in Subsection
2-16 (c) or (d).
2-17 (c) An offense under any of the following sections of the
2-18 Penal Code is covered by Subsection (b)(11):
2-19 (1) 15.03, if the offense solicited is capital murder
2-20 or a felony of the first degree;
2-21 (2) 15.031, if the offense solicited is an offense
2-22 listed in Section 3g(a)(1), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
2-23 Procedure;
2-24 (3) 19.04 or 19.05;
2-25 (4) 20.02 or 20.03;
2-26 (5) 21.11(a)(2);
2-27 (6) 22.01, if the offense is committed against:
3-1 (A) an elderly individual or disabled
3-2 individual, as those terms are defined by Section 22.04, Penal
3-3 Code;
3-4 (B) a family member when the defendant has been
3-5 previously convicted of an offense against a family member under
3-6 that section; or
3-7 (C) a public servant under circumstances
3-8 described by Section 22.01(b)(1);
3-9 (7) 22.011(a)(1), 22.02, 22.04, or 22.07;
3-10 (8) 25.02, 25.031, 25.04, 25.06, 25.07, or 25.08;
3-11 (9) 28.02 or, if the offense involves discharging a
3-12 firearm or weapon or causing bodily injury, 28.07;
3-13 (10) 29.02 or, if the offense is burglary of a
3-14 habitation, 30.02;
3-15 (11) 31.03, if the offense is a felony of the second
3-16 degree or higher, or is punishable under Section 31.03(f), or the
3-17 defendant has been previously convicted under that section;
3-18 (12) 31.04, if the offense is a felony of the second
3-19 degree or higher or the defendant has been previously convicted
3-20 under that section;
3-21 (13) 36.02, 36.03, 36.05, or 36.06;
3-22 (14) 37.02, 37.03, or 37.09;
3-23 (15) 38.03, 38.04, or 38.05, if the offense is a
3-24 felony of the second degree or higher or the defendant has been
3-25 previously convicted under the same section;
3-26 (16) 38.06, 38.09, 38.10, 38.11, 38.113, or 38.14;
3-27 (17) 39.02, 39.03, or 39.04;
4-1 (18) 42.02, 42.061, 42.07, 42.072, or 42.08;
4-2 (19) 43.02, 43.03, 43.04, 43.05, 43.24, 43.25, 43.251,
4-3 or 43.26;
4-4 (20) 46.05, if the offense is a felony;
4-5 (21) 46.09 or 46.10;
4-6 (22) 48.02;
4-7 (23) 49.04, 49.05, or 49.06, if the person has been
4-8 previously convicted under the same section;
4-9 (24) 49.07 or 49.08; or
4-10 (25) 71.02 or 71.021.
4-11 (d) An offense under Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code,
4-12 punishable by imprisonment for life is covered by Subsection
4-13 (b)(11).
4-14 SECTION 2. Chapter 17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
4-15 amended by adding Article 17.421 to read as follows:
4-16 Art. 17.421. RESTRICTIONS ON PERSONAL BOND OFFICE. A
4-17 personal bond office may not prepare or deliver to a court a report
4-18 on a defendant to whom Article 17.033 applies except on the written
4-19 order of a judge or magistrate.
4-20 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-21 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.