BILL ANALYSIS
By: McClendon
Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
For years, business owners, residents, and law enforcement officers in areas of high drug related activity have been relatively powerless in preventing dealers and drug offenders from returning to the same street corners after arrest or conviction. Local courts and law enforcement need new and innovative tools to prevent drug trade in Texas cities.
C.S.H.B. 65 creates a Drug-Free Zone Pilot Program in Bexar County, authorizing Bexar County District Courts to designate certain areas in the county as Drug Free Zones.
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. 65 amends Chapter 125, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, to authorize Bexar County District Court to designate a specified geographic area within Bexar Count a drug-free zone. The area must include a property that has had an habitual use or the threatened or contemplated habitual use of property engaged in specified drug offenses. The boundaries of the zone may include public and privately owned property. The bill defines a property that has had an habitual use or the threatened or contemplated habitual use of property engaged in specified drug offenses as a public nuisance. A person who owns or is responsible for maintaining such property may be made a defendant in a suit to abate the public nuisance. The attorney general, the district attorney or county attorney, a city attorney, or a resident of Bexar County may sue to enjoin a property that has been defined as a public nuisance. A resident of Bexar County does not have to show personal injury to bring a suit. The district court may exclude a person from the designated drug-free zone for a period of 90 days if the person has been arrested for a drug offense committed in the zone or excluded from the zone for one year if the person was subsequently convicted or placed on community supervision for a drug offense. Before being excluded from the zone, the person must be given notice of the defined physical boundaries of the zone and that they are forbidden to enter the zone.
The court may provide a person certain variances to permit travel within the zone for activities such as employment, education, social services, and other essential needs. The court may also rescind a variance for certain reasons described in the bill.
A person who has violated the court order has committed a Class A misdemeanor and who is subject to a fine of not less than $1,000 or more than $10,000, confinement in county jail for not less than 10 days or more than 30 days, or both a fine and confinement.
The district judges of Bexar County must report to the governor and legislature not later than December 31 of each even-numbered year regarding the implementation of the pilot program. On order under this chapter expires on December 31, 2015.
EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
The original bill was bracketed to the City of San Antonio whereas the substitute is applied to Bexar County and is designated a Pilot Program. The substitute transfers the authority for designating drug-free zones and issuing orders of exclusion from the governing body of the City of San Antonio to the Bexar County District Courts. The substitute authorizes the attorney general, a district attorney, a county attorney, a city attorney, or a resident of the state to sue to enjoin a public nuisance against a person who owns or is responsible for property that is habitually used for drug related activity. The substitute transfers authority to designate a specific place as a drug free zone from the city council to a district court and makes conforming changes to this procedure. The substitute adds specifies penalties for violation of the order of exclusion, establishes that the pilot program expire December 31, 2015, and requires that the district judges report to the legislature and the governor on the implementation of the program.