82R7464 KEL-D
 
  By: Thompson H.B. No. 3001
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the electronic monitoring of certain high-risk sex
  offenders; providing a penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by adding Article 42.0155 to read as follows:
         Art. 42.0155.  FINDING REGARDING HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDER.
  (a) This article applies only to an offense under:
               (1)  Section 21.02, 21.11(a)(1), 22.011, or 22.021,
  Penal Code;
               (2)  Section 43.25, Penal Code;
               (3)  Section 20.04(a)(4), Penal Code, if the conduct is
  committed with the intent to violate or abuse the victim of the
  conduct sexually; or
               (4)  Section 30.02, Penal Code, if the conduct is
  punishable under Subsection (d) of that section and is committed
  with the intent to commit an offense listed in Subdivision (1) or
  (2).
         (b)  In the trial of an offense to which this article
  applies, the court shall make an affirmative finding of fact and
  enter the affirmative finding in the judgment in the case if the
  court determines by a preponderance of the evidence that the
  defendant is highly likely to commit a subsequent offense to which
  this article applies during a time at which the defendant is not
  confined in a penal institution.
         SECTION 2.  Title 1, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended
  by adding Chapter 61A to read as follows:
  CHAPTER 61A. ELECTRONIC MONITORING OF
  CERTAIN HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDERS
         Art. 61A.01.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Department" means the Department of Public
  Safety.
               (2)  "Local law enforcement authority" has the meaning
  assigned by Article 62.001.
               (3)  "Monitoring system" means an electronic
  monitoring service, global positioning satellite service, or other
  appropriate technological service that is designed to track a
  person's location.
               (4)  "Penal institution" means a confinement facility
  operated by or under contract with any division of the Texas
  Department of Criminal Justice.
         Art. 61A.02.  MONITORING OF CERTAIN HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDERS.
  (a)  This article applies only to a person who is discharged from a
  penal institution, who has been convicted of an offense for which
  the judgment in the case contains an affirmative finding under
  Article 42.0155, and who:
               (1)  is not under the supervision of the parole
  division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; or
               (2)  has not been civilly committed under Chapter 841,
  Health and Safety Code.
         (b)  A person described by Subsection (a) shall participate
  in any monitoring system program implemented under Subsection (c).
         (c)  The department shall implement and coordinate a
  monitoring system program that tracks the location of persons
  subject to this chapter. A monitoring system program implemented
  under this subsection must require:
               (1)  for each person subject to this chapter, the
  department to provide monitoring system equipment, sufficient to
  track the person's location, to the local law enforcement authority
  designated as the person's primary registration authority under
  Chapter 62;
               (2)  the local law enforcement authority designated as
  a person's primary registration authority under Chapter 62 to use
  the monitoring system equipment provided under Subdivision (1) to
  verify the authenticity of any geographically verifiable
  information, including residence, contained in a sex offender
  registration form submitted by the person to that authority under
  Article 62.051; and
               (3)  the manufacturer or vendor of the monitoring
  system equipment provided to a local law enforcement authority
  under Subdivision (1) to provide training and technological support
  to the authority with respect to the equipment.
         (d)  A monitoring system that is part of a monitoring system
  program described by Subsection (c) must track a person's location
  and periodically provide a cumulative report of the tracked
  person's location to the department. The monitoring system is not
  required to be capable of tracking a person's location in real time
  or providing a real-time report of the person's location to the
  department.
         (e)  A person who is not indigent and who is required to
  participate in a monitoring system program described by Subsection
  (c) is responsible for the cost of the monitoring system and monthly
  shall pay to the person's primary registration authority and to the
  department the amount that the primary registration authority or
  department, as applicable, determines is necessary to defray that
  entity's cost of operating the system with respect to the person
  during the preceding month.
         (f)  The public safety director of the department shall adopt
  rules as necessary to implement and coordinate the monitoring
  system program described by Subsection (c).
         Art. 61A.03.  EXEMPTION FROM MONITORING FOR CERTAIN SEX
  OFFENDERS. (a) Beginning on the 10th anniversary of the person's
  discharge from a penal institution, completion of a parole period,
  or participation in an early release from supervision program under
  Section 508.155(c), Government Code, whichever is latest, but not
  more than once during each calendar year, a person required to
  register under this chapter may petition the court having
  jurisdiction over the case for an order exempting the person from
  participating in a monitoring system program under this chapter.
         (b)  After a hearing on the petition described by Subsection
  (a), the court may issue an order exempting the person from
  participating in a monitoring system program under this chapter if
  the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that an exemption
  would not constitute a threat to public safety.
         (c)  An order exempting the person from participating in a
  monitoring system program under this chapter does not expire,
  except that the court may withdraw the order if after the order is
  issued:
               (1)  the person is convicted of an offense listed in
  Article 62.001; or
               (2)  at a hearing, the court finds by a preponderance of
  the evidence that the continuation of an exemption order issued
  under Subsection (b) would constitute a threat to public safety.
         Art. 61A.04.  FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH MONITORING
  REQUIREMENTS. (a)  A person commits an offense if the person who is
  subject to this chapter fails to participate in a monitoring system
  program implemented under this chapter.
         (b)  An offense under this article is a felony of the third
  degree.
         Art. 61A.05.  FUNDING. The department may solicit and
  accept a gift, grant, or donation from any source, including a
  foundation, private entity, governmental entity, or institution of
  higher education, to help fund the implementation of a monitoring
  system program under this chapter.
         SECTION 3.  (a) Not later than September 15, 2011, the
  Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas shall issue a
  request for qualifications or proposal for the purchase of any
  monitoring system equipment necessary to operate the monitoring
  system program described by Chapter 61A, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, as added by this Act. The department may consider only
  those responses to the request for qualifications or proposal that
  are received from, and may only contract with, a manufacturer of the
  monitoring system equipment.
         (b)  The selection process through which the Department of
  Public Safety chooses a manufacturer with which to contract under
  Subsection (a) of this section must include side-by-side test
  comparisons of all products being considered. In awarding a
  contract under Subsection (a) of this section, the department may
  not give greater weight to cost considerations than to
  considerations concerning the product test results, product
  reliability and functionality, and the protection of public safety.
         SECTION 4.  (a) Article 42.0155, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, as added by this Act, applies only to a judgment of
  conviction entered for an offense committed on or after the
  effective date of this Act.
         (b)  The change in law made by this Act in adding Chapter 61A,
  Code of Criminal Procedure, applies only to an offense committed on
  or after the effective date of this Act.
         (c)  An offense committed before the effective date of this
  Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
  and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For the
  purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
  effective date of this Act if any element of the offense was
  committed before that date.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.