By: Duncan S.B. No. 1428

(In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2007; March 20, 2007, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; April 25, 2007, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; April 25, 2007, sent to printer.)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the arrest and commitment of certain individuals arrested under a warrant issued because of a violation of the conditions of parole.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Article 15.19, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

(a) If the arrested person [accused] fails or refuses to give bail, as provided in [the preceding] Article 15.18, the arrested person [he] shall be committed to the jail of the county where the person [he] was arrested; and the magistrate committing the arrested person [him] shall immediately provide notice to [notify] the sheriff of the county in which the offense is alleged to have been committed regarding:

(1) [of] the arrest and commitment, which notice may be given by telegraph, [by] mail, or [by] other written means; and

(2) whether the person was also arrested under a warrant issued under Section 508.251, Government Code [notice].

SECTION 2. Article 15.20, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

Art. 15.20. DUTY OF SHERIFF RECEIVING NOTICE. (a) Subject to Subsection (b), the [The] sheriff receiving the notice of arrest and commitment under Article 15.19 shall forthwith go or send for the arrested person [prisoner] and have the arrested person [him] brought before the proper court or magistrate.

(b) A sheriff who receives notice under Article 15.19(a)(2) of a warrant issued under Section 508.251, Government Code, shall have the arrested person brought before the proper magistrate or court before the 11th day after the date the person is committed to the jail of the county in which the person was arrested.

SECTION 3. Article 15.21, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

Art. 15.21. PRISONER DISCHARGED IF NOT TIMELY DEMANDED. If the proper office of the county where the offense is alleged to have been committed does not demand the arrested person [prisoner] and take charge of the arrested person before the 11th day after the date the person [him within ten days from the day he] is committed to the jail of the county in which the person is arrested, the arrested person [such prisoner] shall be discharged from custody.

SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a person who, on or after the effective date of this Act, is arrested under a warrant, regardless of the date on which the warrant under which the person is arrested was issued.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2007.

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