78(R) HB 1715 - House Committee Report version


                                                                                
78R13117 GWK-D


By:  Hodge                                                        H.B. No. 1715

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1715:                                   

By:  Hopson                                                   C.S.H.B. No. 1715



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the release on parole or mandatory supervision of 
certain inmates and to the supervision of persons on parole or 
mandatory supervision.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 508.141, Government Code, is amended by 
adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
	(g)  The policy board shall adopt a policy establishing the 
date on which the board may reconsider for release an inmate 
described by Section 508.149 who has previously been denied 
release.  The policy must require the board to reconsider the inmate 
for release during a month designated by the parole panel that 
denied release.  The designated month must begin after the first 
anniversary of the date of the denial and end before the fifth 
anniversary of the date of the denial.
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter E, Chapter 508, Government Code, is 
amended by adding Section 508.1451 to read as follows:
	Sec. 508.1451.  RELEASE FOLLOWING REVOCATION.  (a)  In this 
section, "technical violation" means a violation of a condition of 
release that does not involve an arrest or criminal charge for or 
conviction of an offense, other than an offense punishable as a 
Class C misdemeanor.
	(b)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), a parole panel 
shall establish a release date not earlier than the 180th day after, 
and not later than the second anniversary of, the date on which a 
releasee is returned to imprisonment following revocation of parole 
or mandatory supervision for a technical violation of a condition 
of release.
	(c)  An inmate released under this section is subject to the 
same conditions of release as if the inmate were released under 
Section 508.145.
	(d)  A parole panel may not release an inmate under this 
section if the inmate is serving a sentence for an offense listed in 
Section 508.149(a).
	SECTION 3.  Section 508.155, Government Code, is amended to 
read as follows: 
	Sec. 508.155.  COMPLETION OF PAROLE OR MANDATORY SUPERVISION
PERIOD; EARLY TERMINATION.  (a)  To complete a parole period or a 
period of mandatory supervision, a releasee other than a releasee 
granted early termination of supervision must serve the entire 
period of parole.
	(b)  The time on parole is computed as calendar time.                          
	(c)  The division may recommend that a parole panel grant a 
releasee early termination of supervision if the releasee has been 
under supervision for five years or if the calendar time served in 
the institutional division by the releasee before release and the 
calendar time served under supervision by the releasee after 
release equals two-thirds of the releasee's sentence.  The parole 
panel shall review the recommendation and may order or deny early 
termination of supervision.
	(d)  A releasee who is granted early termination under 
Subsection (c) has the same status as a releasee who completes a 
parole period or period of mandatory supervision by serving the 
entire period of parole or mandatory supervision.  [The division 
may allow a releasee to serve the remainder of the releasee's 
sentence without supervision and without being required to report 
if:
		[(1)  the releasee has been under supervision for at 
least one-half of the time that remained on the releasee's sentence 
when the releasee was released from imprisonment;
		[(2)  during the period of supervision the releasee's 
parole or release to mandatory supervision has not been revoked;  
and
		[(3)  the division determines:                               
			[(A)  that the releasee has made a good faith 
effort to comply with any restitution order imposed on the releasee 
by a court;  and
			[(B)  that allowing the releasee to serve the 
remainder of the releasee's sentence without supervision and 
reporting is in the best interest of society.
	[(d)  The division may require a person released from 
supervision and reporting under Subsection (c) to resubmit to 
supervision and resume reporting at any time and for any reason.]
	SECTION 4.  (a)  The policy board of the Board of Pardons and 
Paroles shall adopt the reconsideration policy required by Section 
508.141(g), Government Code, as added by this Act, not later than 
January 1, 2004.
	(b)  Section 508.1451, Government Code, as added by this Act, 
applies only to a releasee who on or after the effective date of 
this Act is charged with a violation of release.  A releasee who 
before the effective date of this Act is charged with a violation is 
covered by the law in effect when the violation is charged, and the 
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	(c)  The change in law made by this Act to Section 508.155, 
Government Code, applies to a releasee on parole or mandatory 
supervision on or after the effective date of this Act, regardless 
of whether the releasee was released on parole or mandatory 
supervision before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.