81R3480 SJM-D
By: Martinez Fischer H.B. No. 1985
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the requirement that certain defendants in a criminal
case undergo testing for AIDS, HIV infection, or related
conditions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 21.31, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (a-1) and
(b-1) to read as follows:
(a) A person who is indicted for or who waives indictment
for an offense under Section 21.02, 21.11(a)(1), 22.011, or 22.021,
Penal Code, shall, at the direction of the court, undergo a medical
procedure or test designed to show or help show whether the person
has a sexually transmitted disease or has acquired immune
deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
infection, antibodies to HIV, or infection with any other probable
causative agent of AIDS. The court may direct the person to undergo
the procedure or test on its own motion [or on the request of the
victim of the alleged offense]. 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. On request of the victim
of the alleged offense, the court shall order the defendant to
undergo the procedure or test not later than 48 hours after an
indictment for the offense is presented against the defendant or
the defendant waives indictment. Except as provided by Subsection
(b-1), the [The] court may require a defendant previously required
under this article to undergo a medical procedure or test on
indictment for an offense to undergo a subsequent medical procedure
or test only after [following] conviction of the offense. A [The]
person performing a [the] procedure or test under this subsection
shall make the test results available to the local health
authority, and the local health authority shall be required to make
the notification of the test results [result] to the victim of the
alleged offense and to the defendant.
(a-1) If the victim requests the testing of the defendant
and a law enforcement agency is unable to locate the defendant
during the 48-hour period allowed for that testing under Subsection
(a), the running of the 48-hour period is tolled until the law
enforcement agency locates the defendant and the defendant is
present in the jurisdiction.
(b-1) If the results of a medical procedure or test
conducted under Subsection (a) or (b) are positive for HIV or AIDS,
the court shall order the defendant to undergo any necessary
additional testing within a reasonable time after the results are
released.
SECTION 2. The change in law made 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
covered by the law in effect when 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 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.