BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 24 |
By: Martinez Fischer |
Homeland Security & Public Safety |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Driving while intoxicated is a serious problem in Texas that threatens lives, damages property, and occupies important resources in the Texas criminal justice system that could be used to combat other dangerous crimes. Interested parties contend that it is necessary for the legislature to create a centralized coordinated effort at the state level to develop effective initiatives to combat this life-threatening problem in Texas. In an effort to address these concerns, C.S.H.B. 24 creates a policy director for the prevention of driving while intoxicated and sets out the director's duties in this regard.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the policy director for the prevention of driving while intoxicated in SECTION 1 of this bill.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 24 amends the Government Code to establish the policy director for the prevention of driving while intoxicated as a state officeholder administratively attached to the governor's office and appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. The bill establishes a two-year term for the office that expires September 1 of each odd-numbered year and requires the governor, promptly after the bill's effective date, to appoint the policy director to a term that expires September 1, 2015.
C.S.H.B. 24 requires the policy director to monitor driving while intoxicated data collected in Texas; monitor other states for laws and programs that have been successful in reducing the occurrence of offenses relating to the operating of a motor vehicle while intoxicated; and work with the Texas Department of Transportation, the Department of Public Safety, and the Department of State Health Services to reduce alcoholism, recidivism, and the occurrence of offenses relating to the operating of a motor vehicle while intoxicated in Texas. The bill requires the policy director, not later than January 1 of each odd-numbered year, to submit a report to the legislature and describes the required contents of the report. The bill authorizes the policy director to adopt rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions.
C.S.H.B. 24 establishes the driving while intoxicated prevention account within the general revenue fund to consist of money deposited to the credit of the account derived from court costs imposed on a defendant on a conviction of an offense relating to the operation of a motor vehicle while intoxicated, money from gifts or grants from any source, and interest earned on the investment of money in the account and depository interest allocable to the account. The bill limits the purposes for which money in the account may be appropriated to supporting the office of the policy director and programs approved by the policy director for the prevention of offenses relating to the operating of a motor vehicle while intoxicated in Texas. The bill exempts the driving while intoxicated prevention account from statutory provisions governing the use of dedicated revenue appropriated for a specific purpose or entity and requires interest earned on money in the account to be credited to the account. The bill makes the office of the policy director for the prevention of driving while intoxicated subject to the Texas Sunset Act as if it were a state agency, and specifies that, unless continued in existence, the position is abolished and the bill's provisions expire September 1, 2015.
C.S.H.B. 24 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure and Government Code to require a defendant to pay a $10 court cost on conviction of an offense relating to the operating of a motor vehicle while intoxicated, in addition to all other costs imposed under other statutory provisions, and requires each such cost collected to be deposited to the credit of the driving while intoxicated prevention account.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2013.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 24 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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