BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4037

By: Hayes

Criminal Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

When a criminal court deems a defendant incompetent to stand trial, the court will order the defendant to be committed to a state hospital or qualifying mental health facility for competency restoration services, which means that the defendant is eligible to stand for trial. Unfortunately, even once defendants have been restored to competency, due to court backlogs and delays, some fall back into incompetent status while in jail waiting for their pretrial hearing. H.B. 4037 seeks to address this issue by requiring any pretrial hearing for such a defendant to be conducted not later than the 30th day after the date of the court's determination that the defendant's competency has been restored.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 4037 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to require any pretrial hearing in a case in which a criminal defendant has been restored to competency to be conducted not later than the 30th day after the date of the court's determination that the defendant's competency has been restored.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.