|
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
relating to electronic monitoring and other alternative means for |
|
certain defendants to discharge a fine or costs or satisfy a term of |
|
confinement in county jail. |
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
SECTION 1. Article 42.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
amended by amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection |
|
(e) to read as follows: |
|
(a) A court [in a county served by a community supervision
|
|
and corrections department that has an electronic monitoring
|
|
program approved by the community justice assistance division of
|
|
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice] may require a defendant |
|
to serve all or part of a sentence of confinement in county jail by |
|
participating in an [submitting to] electronic monitoring program |
|
rather than being confined in the county jail, if the program: |
|
(1) is operated by a community supervision and |
|
corrections department that serves the county in which the court is |
|
located and has been approved by the community justice assistance |
|
division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; or |
|
(2) is operated by the commissioners court of the |
|
county, or by a private vendor under contract with the |
|
commissioners court, under Section 351.904, Local Government Code, |
|
if the defendant has not been placed on community supervision. |
|
(d) A defendant who submits to electronic monitoring or |
|
participates in the house arrest program under this article |
|
[section] discharges a sentence of confinement in the same manner |
|
as if the defendant were confined in county jail [without
|
|
deductions, good conduct time credits, or commutations]. |
|
(e) A court may revoke a defendant's participation in an |
|
electronic monitoring program and require the defendant to serve |
|
the remainder of the defendant's sentence of confinement in county |
|
jail if the defendant violates a condition imposed by a court under |
|
this article, including a condition requiring the defendant to pay |
|
for participating in the program under Subsection (c). |
|
SECTION 2. Subsection (e), Article 43.09, Code of Criminal |
|
Procedure, is amended to read as follows: |
|
(e) A court in a county that operates an electronic |
|
monitoring program or contracts with a private vendor to operate an |
|
electronic monitoring program under Section 351.904, Local |
|
Government Code, or that is served by a community supervision and |
|
corrections department that operates [has] an electronic |
|
monitoring program approved by the community justice assistance |
|
division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, may require a |
|
defendant who is unable to pay a fine or costs to discharge all or |
|
part of the fine or costs by participating in the program |
|
[submitting to electronic monitoring]. A defendant who |
|
participates in an [that submits to] electronic monitoring program |
|
under this subsection discharges fines and costs in the same manner |
|
as if the defendant were confined in county jail. |
|
SECTION 3. Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
Art. 43.10. MANUAL LABOR. Where the punishment assessed in |
|
a conviction for a misdemeanor is confinement in jail for more than |
|
one day[,] or [where in such conviction the punishment] is |
|
[assessed] only [at] a pecuniary fine and the defendant [party so
|
|
convicted] is unable to pay the fine and costs adjudged against the |
|
defendant [him], or where the defendant [party] is sentenced to |
|
jail for a felony or is confined in jail after conviction of a |
|
felony, the defendant [party convicted] shall be required to work |
|
in the county jail industries program or shall be required to do |
|
manual labor in accordance with [the provisions of this article
|
|
under] the following rules and regulations: |
|
1. Each commissioners court may provide for the |
|
erection of a workhouse and the establishment of a county farm in |
|
connection therewith for the purpose of utilizing the labor of |
|
defendants under this article [said parties so convicted]; |
|
2. Such farms and workhouses shall be under the |
|
control and management of the sheriff, and the sheriff may adopt |
|
such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the rules and |
|
regulations of the Commission on Jail Standards and with the laws as |
|
the sheriff deems necessary; |
|
3. Such overseers and guards may be employed by the |
|
sheriff under the authority of the commissioners court as may be |
|
necessary to prevent escapes and to enforce such labor, and they |
|
shall be paid out of the county treasury such compensation as the |
|
commissioners court may prescribe; |
|
4. They shall be put to labor upon public works and |
|
maintenance projects, including public works and maintenance |
|
projects for a political subdivision located in whole or in part in |
|
the county. They may be put to labor upon maintenance projects for |
|
a cemetery that the commissioners court uses public funds, county |
|
employees, or county equipment to maintain under Section 713.028, |
|
Health and Safety Code. They may also be put to labor providing |
|
maintenance and related services to a nonprofit organization that |
|
qualifies for a tax exemption under Section 501(a), Internal |
|
Revenue Code of 1986, as an organization described by Section |
|
501(c)(3) of that code, and is organized as a nonprofit corporation |
|
under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et |
|
seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), provided that, at the |
|
sheriff's request, the commissioners court determines that the |
|
nonprofit organization provides a public service to the county or |
|
to a political subdivision located in whole or in part in the |
|
county; |
|
5. A defendant [One] who from age, disease, or other |
|
physical or mental disability is unable to do manual labor shall not |
|
be required to work. The defendant's [His] inability to do manual |
|
labor may be determined by a physician appointed for that purpose by |
|
the county judge or the commissioners court, who shall be paid for |
|
such service such compensation as said court may allow; and |
|
6. For each day of manual labor, in addition to any |
|
other credits allowed by law, a defendant is entitled to have one |
|
day deducted from each sentence the defendant [he] is serving. [The
|
|
deduction authorized by this article, when combined with the
|
|
deduction required by Article 42.10 of this code, may not exceed
|
|
two-thirds (2/3) of the sentence.] |
|
SECTION 4. Article 43.101, Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
amended by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection |
|
(d) to read as follows: |
|
(a) A defendant who is confined in county jail before |
|
[awaiting] trial, after conviction of a misdemeanor, or [a
|
|
defendant confined in county jail] after conviction of a felony or |
|
revocation of community supervision, parole, or mandatory |
|
supervision and awaiting transfer to the [institutional division of
|
|
the] Texas Department of Criminal Justice may volunteer to |
|
participate in any work program operated by the sheriff that uses |
|
the labor of convicted defendants. |
|
(b) The sheriff may accept a defendant as a volunteer under |
|
Subsection (a) [of this section] if the defendant is not awaiting |
|
trial for an offense involving violence or is not awaiting transfer |
|
to the [institutional division of the] Texas Department of Criminal |
|
Justice after conviction of a felony involving violence, and if the |
|
sheriff determines that the inmate has not engaged previously in |
|
violent conduct and does not pose a security risk to the general |
|
public if allowed to participate in the work program. |
|
(d) For each day of volunteer work, in addition to any other |
|
credits allowed by law, the court or sheriff may deduct one day from |
|
each sentence imposed on the defendant in relation to the offense or |
|
violation of the terms of release for which the defendant was |
|
confined in county jail. |
|
SECTION 5. Subsection (b), Article 44.041, Code of Criminal |
|
Procedure, is amended to read as follows: |
|
(b) A court that releases a defendant under this article |
|
must require the defendant to participate in a program under |
|
Article 42.033, 42.034, 42.035, or 42.036 [of this code] during the |
|
pendency of the appeal. A [The] defendant required to participate |
|
in a program may [not] receive credit toward completion of the |
|
defendant's sentence while participating in the [a] program in the |
|
same manner and to the same extent provided by Article 42.033, |
|
42.034, 42.035, or 42.036, as applicable [required by this
|
|
subsection]. |
|
SECTION 6. Subchapter Z, Chapter 351, Local Government |
|
Code, is amended by adding Section 351.904 to read as follows: |
|
Sec. 351.904. ELECTRONIC MONITORING PROGRAM. (a) A |
|
commissioners court of a county may establish and operate an |
|
electronic monitoring program for the purpose of monitoring |
|
defendants required by a court of the county to participate in an |
|
electronic monitoring program under: |
|
(1) Article 43.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, to |
|
discharge a fine or costs; or |
|
(2) Article 42.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, as an |
|
alternative to serving all or part of a sentence of confinement in |
|
county jail. |
|
(b) The commissioners court shall provide for the sheriff or |
|
the community supervision and corrections department serving the |
|
county, under an agreement with the commissioners court, to oversee |
|
and operate, or, if the program is operated by a private vendor |
|
under Subsection (c), oversee the operation of, an electronic |
|
monitoring program established under this section. |
|
(c) A commissioners court may contract with a private vendor |
|
to operate an electronic monitoring program under this section, |
|
including by enrolling and tracking participants in the program and |
|
performing periodic reviews with participants regarding compliance |
|
with the program. |
|
(d) A commissioners court may use money that a defendant is |
|
ordered to pay to a county under Article 42.035(c), Code of Criminal |
|
Procedure, to pay for the services of a private vendor that operates |
|
an electronic monitoring program under Subsection (c). |
|
(e) A commissioners court may subsidize all or part of the |
|
cost of a defendant's participation in an electronic monitoring |
|
program under this section if the defendant is indigent. |
|
(f) A commissioners court may contract for any available |
|
electronic monitoring technology, including a technology that |
|
provides continuous positional tracking of the participant, that |
|
meets the approval of the commissioners court and either the |
|
sheriff or the community supervision and corrections department, as |
|
appropriate. |
|
SECTION 7. Section 6, Article 42.032, Code of Criminal |
|
Procedure, is repealed. |
|
SECTION 8. Subsection (e), Article 42.035, Code of Criminal |
|
Procedure, as added by this Act, applies only to a defendant who is |
|
sentenced to a term of confinement in county jail for an offense |
|
committed on or after September 1, 2009. A defendant who is |
|
sentenced to a term of confinement in county jail for an offense |
|
committed before September 1, 2009, is governed by the law in effect |
|
when the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in |
|
effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense |
|
was committed before September 1, 2009, if any element of the |
|
offense occurred before that date. |
|
SECTION 9. The changes in law made by this Act in amending |
|
Article 43.10 and Subsection (b), Article 44.041, Code of Criminal |
|
Procedure, and in repealing Section 6, Article 42.032, Code of |
|
Criminal Procedure, apply only to credit that is earned by a |
|
defendant as a result of participation in a program or work |
|
performed on or after the effective date of this Act. The accrual |
|
of credit by a defendant as a result of participation in a program |
|
or work performed before the effective date of this Act is governed |
|
by the law in effect when the participation occurred or work was |
|
performed, and the former law remains in effect for that purpose. |
|
SECTION 10. This Act takes effect immediately if it |
|
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each |
|
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. |
|
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate |
|
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
______________________________ |
|
President of the Senate |
Speaker of the House |
|
|
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2340 passed the Senate on |
|
May 7, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1. |
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Secretary of the Senate |
|
|
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2340 passed the House on |
|
May 27, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 148, Nays 0, one |
|
present not voting. |
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
|
|
|
|
|
Approved: |
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Date |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
Governor |