By: Hinojosa  S.B. No. 840
         (In the Senate - Filed February 13, 2009; March 4, 2009,
  read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
  April 20, 2009, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 6,
  Nays 1; April 20, 2009, sent to printer.)
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to procedures for certain persons charged with certain new
  offenses or an administrative violation of a condition of release
  from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on parole or to
  mandatory supervision.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 508.254, Government Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsections (d), (e), and (f) to
  read as follows:
         (c)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), pending [Pending]
  a hearing on a charge of parole violation, ineligible release, or
  violation of a condition of mandatory supervision, a person
  returned to custody shall remain confined.
         (d)  A magistrate of the county in which the person is held in
  custody may release the person on bond pending the hearing if:
               (1)  the person is arrested or held in custody only on a
  charge that the person:
                     (A)  committed an administrative violation of
  release; or
                     (B)  violated a condition of release by committing
  a new offense for which the person is eligible for release on bond,
  other than:
                           (i)  an offense punishable as a felony;
                           (ii)  an offense under Title 5 or Chapter 49,
  Penal Code, punishable as a Class B or Class A misdemeanor; or
                           (iii)  an offense involving family violence,
  as defined by Section 71.004, Family Code;
               (2)  the division, in accordance with Subsection (e),
  included notice on the warrant for the person's arrest that the
  person is eligible for release on bond; and
               (3)  the magistrate determines that the person is not a
  threat to public safety.
         (e)  The division shall include a notice on the warrant for
  the person's arrest indicating that the person is eligible for
  release on bond under Subsection (d) if the division determines
  that the person:
               (1)  has not been previously convicted of:
                     (A)  an offense under Chapter 29, Penal Code;
                     (B)  an offense under Title 5, Penal Code,
  punishable as a felony; or
                     (C)  an offense involving family violence, as
  defined by Section 71.004, Family Code;
               (2)  is not on intensive supervision or super-intensive
  supervision;
               (3)  is not an absconder; and
               (4)  is not a threat to public safety.
         (f)  The provisions of Chapters 17 and 22, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, apply to a person released under Subsection (d) in the
  same manner as those provisions apply to a person released pending
  an appearance before a court or magistrate, except that the release
  under Subsection (d) is conditioned on the person's appearance at a
  hearing under this subchapter.
         SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to a person who on or after the effective date of this Act is charged
  with a violation of the person's release on parole or to mandatory
  supervision. A person who before the effective date of this Act was
  charged with a violation of release is governed by the law in effect
  when the violation was charged, and the former law is continued in
  effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
 
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