81R38463 HLT-D

By: Herrero H.R. No. 2949

R E S O L U T I O N

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the State of Texas, 81st Legislature, Regular Session, 2009, That House Rule 13, Section 9(a), be suspended in part as provided by House Rule 13, Section 9(f), to enable the conference committee appointed to resolve the differences on House Bill 1506 (the imposition of conditions on certain defendants charged with an offense involving family violence) to consider and take action on the following matter:

House Rule 13, Sections 9(a)(3) and (4), are suspended to permit the committee to add new Subsections (h) and (i), Article 17.49, Code of Criminal Procedure, to read as follows:

(h) If the magistrate determines that a defendant is indigent, the magistrate may, based on a sliding scale established by local rule, require the defendant to pay costs under Subsection (b)(2) or (3) in an amount that is less than the full amount of the costs associated with operating the global positioning monitoring system in relation to the defendant or providing the victim with an electronic receptor device.

(i) If an indigent defendant pays to an entity that operates a global positioning monitoring system the partial amount ordered by a magistrate under Subsection (h), the entity shall accept the partial amount as payment in full. The county in which the magistrate who enters an order under Subsection (h) is located is not responsible for payment of any costs associated with operating the global positioning monitoring system in relation to an indigent defendant.

Explanation: This change is necessary to allow a magistrate, without obligating the county to pay any of the costs, to require an indigent defendant to pay, in an amount that is less than the full amount of those costs, costs associated with operating a global positioning monitoring system in relation to the defendant or with providing an electronic receptor device to the victim of the offense committed by the defendant.