BILL ANALYSIS
By: Menendez
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Numerous murders go unsolved for five, ten or even 20 years. The current Penal Code does not require additional consequences be added to terms of convicted murderers that have evaded arrest for periods of time.
House Bill 1340 will delay eligibility for parole for an inmate serving a sentence for murder by three years for every 12 months that elapse between the date an arrest warrant is issued for the inmate following an indictment and the date the inmate is arrested for the offense.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
H.B. 1340 amends the Government Code and provides that notwithstanding Section 508.145(d), Government Code, the earliest date on which an inmate serving a sentence for an offense of murder is eligible for parole is delayed by three years for every 12 months that elapse between the date an arrest warrant is issued for the inmate following an indictment for the offense and the date the inmate is arrested for the offense.
This Act applies only to the parole eligibility of an inmate serving a sentence for an offense of murder, committed on or after the effective date of this Act. The parole eligibility of an inmate serving a sentence for an offense of murder, committed before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the time the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense was committed before that date.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2007