S.B. No. 951
AN ACT
relating to the operation of certain cemeteries using county
resources.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (c), Section 713.028, 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 2. 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 also 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;
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 3. The change in law made by Section 2 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 September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 951 passed the Senate on
May 12, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 951 passed the House on
May 25, 2005, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor