HBA-KDB H.B. 3613 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3613 By: Martinez Fischer Criminal Jurisprudence 7/17/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Prior to the 77th Legislature, a court was required to sentence certain repeat offenders of public intoxication to probation, which includes substance abuse counseling. The court was authorized to sentence such an offender to jail only after the third conviction. There is concern that certain individuals who are sentenced to probation and fined do not have the resources to comply with the terms of the punishment. When an offender violates the terms of probation, probation is revoked and the offender is sent to jail. This situation is inefficient as well as burdensome for judges, district attorneys, police officers, and probation officers who are forced to devote more time to cases in which the offender may have been better served with one jail sentence. House Bill 3613 authorizes, rather than requires, a court to suspend the imposition of a sentence and place a defendant convicted of disorderly conduct or public intoxication on community supervision. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 3613 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to authorize, rather than require, a court, on conviction of an offense for which punishment is enhanced, to suspend the imposition of the sentence and to place a defendant convicted of disorderly conduct or public intoxication on community supervision if the court finds that the defendant would benefit from community supervision and enters its finding on the record. The bill deletes the provision which provides that the requirement of a court to place a defendant on community supervision does not apply to a defendant who has previously been convicted of such an offense. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.