79R236 MSE-D

By:  McClendon                                                    H.B. No. 508



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the authority to require a convicted person to perform 
manual labor for a nonprofit organization.
	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, or for a nonprofit organization that provides services 
to the general public that enhance social welfare and the general 
well-being of the community;
	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.  The change in law made by 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 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.