H.B. No. 1681
AN ACT
relating to the imposition of sanctions on an inmate who refuses to
cooperate in the taking of a sample or specimen to create a DNA
record.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 411.148, Government Code, as amended by
Chapters 211 and 1509, Acts of the 77th Legislature, 2001, is
reenacted and amended to read as follows:
Sec. 411.148. DNA RECORDS OF CERTAIN INMATES. (a) An
inmate serving a sentence for a felony in the institutional
division shall provide one or more blood samples or other specimens
for the purpose of creating a DNA record.
(b) The institutional division shall obtain the sample or
specimen from an inmate of the division during the diagnostic
process. The institutional division shall obtain the sample or
specimen from an inmate confined in another penal institution as
soon as practicable if the Board of Pardons and Paroles informs the
division that the inmate is likely to be paroled before being
admitted to the division. The administrator of the other penal
institution shall cooperate with the institutional division as
necessary to allow the institutional division to perform its duties
under this section.
(c) The institutional division shall:
(1) preserve each blood sample or other specimen
collected;
(2) maintain a record of the collection of the sample
or specimen; and
(3) send the sample or specimen to the director for
scientific analysis under this subchapter.
(d) An inmate may not be held past the inmate's [a]
statutory release date if the inmate fails or refuses to provide a
blood sample or other specimen under this section. A penal
institution may take [other] lawful administrative action,
including disciplinary action resulting in the loss of good conduct
time, against an [the] inmate who refuses to provide a blood sample
or other specimen under this section.
(e) The institutional division shall notify the director
that an inmate described by Subsection (a) is to be released from
the institutional division not earlier than the 120th day before
the inmate's statutory release date and not later than the 90th day
before the inmate's statutory release date. In Subsection (d) and
this subsection, "statutory release date" means the date on which
an inmate is discharged from the inmate's controlling sentence.
(f) A medical staff employee of the institutional division
may obtain a voluntary sample or specimen from any inmate.
(g) An employee of the institutional division may use force
against an inmate required to provide a sample under this section
when and to the degree the employee reasonably believes the force is
immediately necessary to obtain the sample or specimen.
(h) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice may contract
with an individual or entity for the provision of phlebotomy
services under this section.
(i) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), if at the beginning of a
fiscal year the executive director of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice determines that sufficient funds have not been
appropriated to the department to obtain a sample from each inmate
otherwise required to provide a sample under Subsection (a), the
executive director shall direct the institutional division to give
priority to obtaining samples from inmates ordered by a court to
give the sample or specimen or serving sentences for:
(1) an offense:
(A) under Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder), or
Section 22.02, Penal Code (aggravated assault);
(B) under Section 30.02, Penal Code (burglary),
if the offense is punishable under Subsection (c)(2) or (d) of that
section; or
(C) for which the inmate is required to register
as a sex offender under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure; or
(2) any offense if the inmate has previously been
convicted of or adjudicated as having engaged in:
(A) an offense described in Subdivision (1); or
(B) an offense under federal law or laws of
another state that involves the same conduct as an offense
described by Subdivision (1).
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1681 was passed by the House on April
14, 2005, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1681 was passed by the Senate on May
25, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor