BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center C.S.S.B. 1593
80R18845 E By: Hinojosa
Committee Report (Substituted)
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.
C.S.S.B. 1593 requires the clerk of a court that does not provide Internet access to its criminal records to post in a public place in the courthouse notice of a criminal court docket setting at least 48 hours before the docket setting.
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 clerk of a court that does not provide online Internet access to that court’s criminal records to post in a designated public place in the courthouse notice of a criminal court docket setting not less than 48 hours before the docket setting.
SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective.
SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2007.