BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3671

By: Sheffield

Corrections

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Article 42.09 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides a list of all the documents that a county must provide to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) when transferring an inmate, known as the offender's pen packet. The record of arrest, the offense report, and the jail conduct report are required documents in the pen packet, containing useful, yet duplicate information.

H.B. 3671 removes the record of arrest from documents required in the pen packet. The bill spares counties the task of gathering and submitting the information and TDCJ the task of receiving and maintaining documents of limited value to TDCJ.

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. 3671 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to remove a copy of the record of arrest for each offense from the list of documents that a county transferring a defendant to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is required to deliver to an officer designated by TDCJ.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.