83R12200 MEW-F
 
  By: Hegar S.B. No. 1522
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the responsibility of the county to hold certain
  persons in county jail before a return or transfer of the person to
  the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 499.071, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 499.071.  SCHEDULED ADMISSIONS POLICY. The board shall
  adopt and enforce a scheduled admissions policy that:
               (1)  permits the department [institutional division]
  to accept inmates within 45 days of processing as required by
  Section 499.121(c); and
               (2)  requires the department to accept inmates within
  40 days of processing as required by Section 499.121(c-1).
         SECTION 2.  Section 499.121, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (c-1) to read as follows:
         (c-1)  Notwithstanding Subsection (c), on and after
  September 1, 2013, the department has a duty to accept, not later
  than the 40th day after the date on which all processing required
  for transfer has been completed, each inmate confined in a county
  jail while under an order of commitment to the department following
  conviction of a felony of the first, second, or third degree or a
  capital felony.
         SECTION 3.  Section 508.254(c), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (c)(1)  Except as otherwise provided by this subsection,
  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.
               (2)  A magistrate of the county in which the person is
  held in custody may release the person on bond pending the hearing
  if:
                     (A)  the person is arrested only on a charge that
  the person has committed an administrative violation of a condition
  of release;
                     (B)  the person is not charged with and has not
  been previously convicted of:
                           (i)  an offense under Chapter 29, Penal
  Code, or an offense under Title 5, Penal Code, punishable as a
  felony; or
                           (ii)  an offense involving family violence,
  as defined by Section 71.004, Family Code; and
                     (C)  the board provides the magistrate with
  written approval.
               (3)  The provisions of Chapters 17 and 22, Code of
  Criminal Procedure, apply to a person released under this
  subsection 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 this subsection is conditioned on the
  person's appearance at a hearing under this subchapter.
         SECTION 4.  Section 508.282(a), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b), a parole panel, a
  designee of the board, or the department shall dispose of the
  charges against an inmate or person described by Section
  508.281(a):
               (1)  before the 36th [41st] day after the date on which:
                     (A)  a warrant issued as provided by Section
  508.251 is executed, if the inmate or person is arrested only on a
  charge that the inmate or person has committed an administrative
  violation of a condition of release, and the inmate or person is not
  charged before the 36th [41st] day with the commission of an offense
  described by Section 508.2811(2)(B); or
                     (B)  the sheriff having custody of an inmate or
  person alleged to have committed an offense after release notifies
  the department that:
                           (i)  the inmate or person has discharged the
  sentence for the offense; or
                           (ii)  the prosecution of the alleged offense
  has been dismissed by the attorney representing the state in the
  manner provided by Article 32.02, Code of Criminal Procedure; or
               (2)  within a reasonable time after the date on which
  the inmate or person is returned to the custody of the department,
  if:
                     (A)  immediately before the return the inmate or
  person was in custody in another state or in a federal correctional
  system; or
                     (B)  the inmate or person is transferred to the
  custody of the department under Section 508.284.
         SECTION 5.  The changes in law made by this Act in amending
  Sections 499.071 and 499.121, Government Code, apply only to the
  acceptance by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice of an inmate
  who is confined in a county jail and is under an order of commitment
  to the department that is entered on or after the effective date of
  this Act.  The acceptance by the Texas Department of Criminal
  Justice of an inmate who is confined in a county jail and is under an
  order of commitment to the department that is entered before the
  effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
  date the order of commitment was entered, and the former law is
  continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 6.  The changes in law made by this Act in amending
  Sections 508.254(c) and 508.282(a), Government Code, apply 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 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 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.