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.