| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to reporting requirements for certain in-custody deaths; |
|
|
providing a civil penalty. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
|
amended by adding Article 2.33 to read as follows: |
|
|
Art. 2.33. NOTICE OF VIOLATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS |
|
|
FOR CERTAIN DEATHS IN CUSTODY; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) The office of |
|
|
the attorney general shall conduct an investigation after receiving |
|
|
a written and signed report, on a form prescribed by the office, |
|
|
asserting that a person failed to submit a report required by |
|
|
Article 49.18 or failed to include in that report all relevant facts |
|
|
known to the person as required by that article. If the office |
|
|
determines that the person failed to submit the report or failed to |
|
|
include in the report all relevant facts known to the person, the |
|
|
office shall provide notice of the failure to the person. The |
|
|
notice must summarize the applicable requirement and state that the |
|
|
person may be subject to a civil penalty as provided by Subsection |
|
|
(b) or (c), as applicable. |
|
|
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), beginning on the |
|
|
eighth day after the date of receiving notice under Subsection (a), |
|
|
a person is liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 for |
|
|
each day the person fails to submit the required report or a |
|
|
supplemental report with all relevant facts known to the person, as |
|
|
applicable. |
|
|
(c) Beginning on the day after the date of receiving notice |
|
|
under Subsection (a), a person who, in the five-year period |
|
|
preceding the date the person received the notice, has been liable |
|
|
for a civil penalty under Subsection (b) or this subsection is |
|
|
liable for a civil penalty for each day the person fails to submit |
|
|
the required report or a supplemental report with all relevant |
|
|
facts known to the person, as applicable. The amount of a civil |
|
|
penalty under this subsection is $10,000 for the first day and |
|
|
$1,000 for each additional day that the person fails to submit the |
|
|
report or a supplemental report, as applicable. |
|
|
(d) The attorney general may sue to collect a civil penalty |
|
|
under this article. |
|
|
(e) A civil penalty collected under this article shall be |
|
|
deposited to the credit of the compensation to victims of crime fund |
|
|
established under Subchapter J, Chapter 56B. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Article 49.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, is |
|
|
amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows: |
|
|
(b-1) If after filing the report under Subsection (b) the |
|
|
director determines that the report was filed with incomplete or |
|
|
incorrect information regarding the circumstances of the death, the |
|
|
director shall promptly file with the attorney general a |
|
|
supplemental report containing the additional information. |
|
|
SECTION 3. Sections 39.05(a) and (b), Penal Code, are |
|
|
amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) A person commits an offense if the person is required to |
|
|
conduct an investigation [and file a report] by Article 49.18, Code |
|
|
of Criminal Procedure, and the person fails to investigate the |
|
|
death[, fails to file the report as required, or fails to include in |
|
|
a filed report facts known or discovered in the investigation]. |
|
|
(b) A person commits an offense if the person is required by |
|
|
Section 501.055(a) [501.055], Government Code, to[: |
|
|
[(1)] give notice of the death of an inmate and the |
|
|
person fails to give the notice[; or |
|
|
[(2) conduct an investigation and file a report and |
|
|
the person: |
|
|
[(A) fails to conduct the investigation or file |
|
|
the report; or |
|
|
[(B) fails to include in the report facts known |
|
|
to the person or discovered by the person in the investigation]. |
|
|
SECTION 4. Section 39.05, Penal Code, as amended by this |
|
|
Act, applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective |
|
|
date of this Act. An offense committed before the effective date of |
|
|
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date 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 the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense |
|
|
occurred before that date. |
|
|
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |