BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 1593
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Often times, a defendant who has posted bail and the defendant’s surety are not given advance notice of the defendant’s court appearance date. This lack of notice often causes the undue delay of a defendant’s case and bottle-necks a court’s docket. It unfairly penalizes the defendant, as the defendant may be re-arrested for failure to appear in court even though the defendant was not aware of the date on which the defendant was required to appear. Many counties have also made it impractical for a defendant to find out the defendant’s court date, further exacerbating the problem.
As proposed, S.B. 1593 requires a court to give at least five days notice of a required appearance date to a defendant who has posted bail and to the surety on the defendant’s bond.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 17, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Article 17.085, as follows:
Art. 17.085. NOTICE OF APPEARANCE DATE. Requires the court, not later than the fifth day preceding the date a defendant who has posted a bail bond is required to appear before a court, to give notice of the appearance date to the defendant and the surety on the defendant's bond.
SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective.
SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2007.