C.S.H.B. 1236 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


C.S.H.B. 1236
By: Hopson
Corrections
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, local county jails are not required to include existing
detainer notifications in the pen packets that must be provided to the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) when offenders are brought in
for intake processing.  A detainer is a request from an agency to be
notified prior to the release of an individual.  The Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) has experienced particular problems, because
INS detainers filed with the county are not consistently transferred to
TDCJ along with the offender. The failure to receive these detainers
complicates the joint efforts by INS and TDCJ to identify criminal aliens
during the intake process.  C.S.H.B. 1236 requires that existing detainers
be a required document for pen packets of offenders sentenced to TDCJ. 


RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 


ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B.1236 amends Section 8(a), Article 42.09, of the Code of Criminal
Procedure to require that a copy of any detainer, issued by an agency of
the federal government, that is in the possession of the county and that
has been placed on a defendant be included in a pen packet accompanying a
defendant on transfer from county jail to the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice.  C.S.H.B. 1236 also requires that a written description of a hold
or warrant that has been issued for the defendant and that the county is
aware of be placed in the defendant's pen packet. 


EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2003


COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The substitute modifies the original by providing more detailed language
regarding the detainer, specifying that it must be issued by a federal
agency and must be in the possession of the county. The substitute also
adds Article 42.09, Section 8(a) (12), Code of Criminal Procedure,
regarding the county's responsibility to include in the pen packet a
written description of a hold or warrant, issued by any other
jurisdiction, of which the county is aware.