SRC-BWC H.B. 598 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research CenterH.B. 598
By: Goodman (Harris)
Criminal Justice
5/10/2001
Committee Report (Amended)


DIGEST AND PURPOSE 

The community justice assistance division (division) of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice allocates funds to community supervision and
corrections departments that supervise or help rehabilitate the more than
440,000 offenders in Texas who are currently serving sentences under
community supervision rather than in prison.  These departments receive
approximately 65 percent of their operating budgets from the Texas
Legislature.  They also receive funds from their local governments and by
collecting court-ordered fees from offenders.  The maximum fees collected
from offenders have not been increased for years, which has resulted in
more costs for local governments.  H.B. 598 raises the maximum monthly fees
that local governments may charge defendants during their supervision
period.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a
state officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 19(a), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
Procedure, to require a judge granting community supervision, except as
otherwise provided by this section, to fix a fee of not less than $25 and
not more than $60, rather than $40, per month to be paid to the court by
the defendant during the community supervision period. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 2001.