Bill Text: TX HB1595 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Enrolled


Bill Title: Relating to testing certain defendants or confined persons for communicable diseases.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-17 - Effective immediately [HB1595 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB1595-Enrolled.html
 
 
  H.B. No. 1595
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to testing certain defendants or confined persons for
  communicable diseases.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  The heading to Article 18.22, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
         Art. 18.22. TESTING CERTAIN DEFENDANTS OR CONFINED PERSONS
  FOR COMMUNICABLE DISEASES [FOLLOWING CERTAIN ARRESTS].
         SECTION 2.  Article 18.22, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection
  (d) to read as follows:
         (a)  A person who is arrested for a misdemeanor or felony and
  who during the commission of that offense or the [an] arrest, during
  a judicial proceeding or initial period of confinement following
  the arrest, or during the person's confinement after a conviction
  or adjudication resulting from the arrest [commission of that
  offense] causes the person's bodily fluids to come into contact
  with a peace officer, a magistrate, or an employee of a correctional
  facility where the person is confined [to come into contact with the
  person's bodily fluids] shall, at the direction of the court having
  jurisdiction over the arrested person, undergo a medical procedure
  or test designed to show or help show whether the person has a
  communicable disease. The court may direct the person to undergo
  the procedure or test on its own motion or on the request of the
  peace officer, magistrate, or correctional facility employee. If
  the person refuses to submit voluntarily to the procedure or test,
  the court shall require the person to submit to the procedure or
  test. Notwithstanding any other law, the person performing the
  procedure or test shall make the test results available to the local
  health authority, and the local health authority shall notify the
  peace officer, magistrate, or correctional facility employee, as
  appropriate, of the test result. The state may not use the fact
  that a medical procedure or test was performed on a person under
  this article, or use the results of the procedure or test, in any
  criminal proceeding arising out of the alleged offense.
         (b)  Testing under this article shall be conducted in
  accordance with written infectious disease control protocols
  adopted by the Department [Texas Board] of State Health Services
  that clearly establish procedural guidelines that provide criteria
  for testing and that respect the rights of the arrested person and
  the peace officer, magistrate, or correctional facility employee.
         (d)  In this article, "correctional facility" means:
               (1)  any place described by Section 1.07(a)(14), Penal
  Code; or
               (2)  a "secure correctional facility" or "secure
  detention facility" as those terms are defined by Section 51.02,
  Family Code.
         SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies to a
  motion by the court or request of a magistrate or correctional
  facility employee made on or after the effective date of this Act,
  regardless of whether the offense for which the person was arrested
  or the applicable contact with bodily fluids occurred before, on,
  or after that date.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1595 was passed by the House on April
  23, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 137, Nays 0, 3 present, not
  voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1595 was passed by the Senate on May
  26, 2015, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
  APPROVED:  _____________________
                     Date          
   
            _____________________
                   Governor       
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