79R6557 MFC-F

By:  McCall                                                       H.B. No. 1681



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

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:
	(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 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 release date and not later than the 90th day before the 
inmate's release date.
	(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.