H.B. No. 129
AN ACT
relating to the authority to require a convicted person to perform
manual labor for a nonprofit organization or a cemetery maintained
by the county.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 43.10. MANUAL LABOR. Where the punishment assessed in
a conviction for misdemeanor is confinement in jail for more than
one day, or where in such conviction the punishment is assessed only
at a pecuniary fine and the party so convicted is unable to pay the
fine and costs adjudged against him, or where the party is sentenced
to jail for a felony or is confined in jail after conviction of a
felony, the party convicted shall be required to work in the county
jail industries program or shall be required to do manual labor in
accordance with the provisions of this article under the following
rules and regulations:
1. Each commissioners court may provide for the erection of
a workhouse and the establishment of a county farm in connection
therewith for the purpose of utilizing the labor of said parties so
convicted;
2. Such farms and workhouses shall be under the control and
management of the sheriff, and the sheriff may adopt such rules and
regulations not inconsistent with the rules and regulations of the
Commission on Jail Standards and with the laws as the sheriff deems
necessary;
3. Such overseers and guards may be employed by the sheriff
under the authority of the commissioners court as may be necessary
to prevent escapes and to enforce such labor, and they shall be paid
out of the county treasury such compensation as the commissioners
court may prescribe;
4. They shall be put to labor upon public works and
maintenance projects, including public works and maintenance
projects for a political subdivision located in whole or in part in
the county. They may be put to labor upon maintenance projects for
a cemetery that the commissioners court uses public funds, county
employees, or county equipment to maintain under Section 713.028,
Health and Safety Code. They may also be put to labor providing
maintenance and related services to a nonprofit organization that
qualifies for a tax exemption under Section 501(a), Internal
Revenue Code of 1986, as an organization described by Section
501(c)(3) of that code, and is organized as a nonprofit corporation
under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et
seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), provided that, at the
sheriff's request, the commissioners court determines that the
nonprofit organization provides a public service to the county or
to a political subdivision located in whole or in part in the
county;
5. One who from age, disease, or other physical or mental
disability is unable to do manual labor shall not be required to
work. His inability to do manual labor may be determined by a
physician appointed for that purpose by the county judge or the
commissioners court, who shall be paid for such service such
compensation as said court may allow; and
6. For each day of manual labor, in addition to any other
credits allowed by law, a defendant is entitled to have one day
deducted from each sentence he is serving. The deduction
authorized by this article, when combined with the deduction
required by Article 42.10 of this code, may not exceed two-thirds
(2/3) of the sentence.
SECTION 2. Sections 713.028(a) and (c), Health and Safety
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) For purposes of historical preservation or public
health, safety, or welfare, a commissioners court may use public
funds, county employees, county inmate labor as provided by Article
43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, and county equipment to maintain
a cemetery that has a grave marker more than 50 years old.
(c) At the discretion of the commissioners court, a county
may permit the use of public funds, county employees, county inmate
labor as provided by Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, and
county equipment to open and close graves in a cemetery described by
Subsection (a). [Maintenance of a cemetery under Subsection (a)
includes any activity necessary for the continued operation of the
cemetery, including the opening and closing of graves. This
subsection applies only to a county with a population of 40,000 or
less.]
SECTION 3. The change in law made by Section 1 of this Act
applies to a person who is convicted of an offense with respect to
which Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, applies,
regardless of whether the conviction occurs before, on, or after
the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 129 was passed by the House on March
30, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 1, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 129 on May 26, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 144, Nays 0, 2
present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 129 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 24, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor