Bill Text: TX SB368 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Relating to the release by a sheriff of certain defendants to an electronic monitoring or house arrest program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-04-29 - Committee report printed and distributed [SB368 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-SB368-Comm_Sub.html
By: Whitmire | S.B. No. 368 | |
(In the Senate - Filed February 4, 2013; February 11, 2013, | ||
read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; | ||
April 29, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee | ||
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 1, 1 present not | ||
voting; April 29, 2013, sent to printer.) | ||
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 368 | By: Whitmire |
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relating to the release by a sheriff of certain defendants to an | ||
electronic monitoring or house arrest program. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is | ||
amended by adding Article 42.0321 to read as follows: | ||
Art. 42.0321. RELEASE BY SHERIFF TO HOUSE ARREST OR | ||
ELECTRONIC MONITORING. (a) Notwithstanding Article 42.035, if a | ||
sheriff determines that it is in the best interest of a defendant | ||
and the public, the sheriff may require a defendant who is serving a | ||
sentence of confinement in the county jail to serve all or part of | ||
the sentence in an electronic monitoring program or under house | ||
arrest, rather than being confined in the county jail. The sheriff | ||
may require a defendant released to house arrest to also be | ||
electronically monitored. | ||
(b) A defendant who participates in an electronic | ||
monitoring or house arrest program under this article: | ||
(1) discharges a sentence of confinement in the same | ||
manner as if the defendant were confined in a county jail; and | ||
(2) is responsible for payment to a county for the | ||
reasonable costs incurred by the county because of the defendant's | ||
participation in the program. | ||
(c) A sheriff may impose reasonable conditions on a | ||
defendant who participates in an electronic monitoring or house | ||
arrest program. | ||
(d) A sheriff may revoke a defendant's participation in an | ||
electronic monitoring or house arrest program and require the | ||
defendant to serve the remainder of the defendant's sentence of | ||
confinement in the county jail if: | ||
(1) the sheriff is unable to monitor the defendant due | ||
to a failure in the electronic monitoring device; | ||
(2) the defendant violates a condition imposed by the | ||
sheriff; or | ||
(3) the defendant fails to pay for participating in | ||
the program as required by Subsection (b)(2). | ||
SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 351.0415, Local | ||
Government Code, is amended to read as follows: | ||
(c) The sheriff or the sheriff's designee may use commissary | ||
proceeds only to: | ||
(1) fund, staff, and equip a program addressing the | ||
social needs of the inmates, including an educational or | ||
recreational program, [ |
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counseling, or an electronic monitoring or house arrest program | ||
operated under Article 42.0321, Code of Criminal Procedure; | ||
(2) supply inmates with clothing, writing materials, | ||
and hygiene supplies; | ||
(3) establish, staff, and equip the commissary | ||
operation and fund the salaries of staff responsible for managing | ||
the inmates' commissary accounts; | ||
(4) fund, staff, and equip both an educational and a | ||
law library for the educational use of inmates; or | ||
(5) fund physical plant improvements, technology, | ||
equipment, programs, services, and activities that provide for the | ||
well-being, health, safety, and security of the inmates and the | ||
facility. | ||
SECTION 3. Subsections (a) and (d), Section 351.904, Local | ||
Government Code, are amended to read as follows: | ||
(a) A commissioners court of a county may establish and | ||
operate an electronic monitoring program for the purpose of | ||
monitoring defendants required [ |
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participate in an electronic monitoring program under: | ||
(1) Article 43.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, to | ||
discharge a fine or costs; or | ||
(2) Article 42.0321 or 42.035, Code of Criminal | ||
Procedure, as an alternative to serving all or part of a sentence of | ||
confinement in county jail. | ||
(d) A commissioners court may use money that a defendant is | ||
ordered to pay to a county under Article 42.0321(b)(2) or | ||
42.035(c), Code of Criminal Procedure, to pay for the services of a | ||
private vendor that operates an electronic monitoring program under | ||
Subsection (c). | ||
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, 2013. | ||
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