81R5727 JSC-D
By: Wentworth S.B. No. 1393
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the conditions for release on bond of a defendant
charged with certain intoxication offenses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 17.441, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 17.441. CONDITIONS REQUIRING MOTOR VEHICLE IGNITION
INTERLOCK DEVICE OR ALCOHOL MONITORING DEVICE. (a) Except as
provided by Subsection (b), a magistrate shall require on release
that a defendant charged with a subsequent offense under Sections
49.04-49.06, Penal Code, or an offense under Section 49.07 or 49.08
of that code, as specified by the magistrate:
(1) have installed on the motor vehicle owned by the
defendant or on the vehicle most regularly driven by the defendant,
an ignition interlock [a] device that uses a deep-lung breath
analysis mechanism to make impractical the operation of a motor
vehicle if ethyl alcohol is detected in the breath of the
operator,[;] and
[(2)] not operate any motor vehicle unless the vehicle
is equipped with that device; or
(2) wear an alcohol monitoring device that provides
continuous remote alcohol monitoring and cannot be removed.
(b) The magistrate may not require the installation of the
ignition interlock device or the wearing of the alcohol monitoring
device if the magistrate finds that to require the ignition
interlock device or the alcohol monitoring device would not be in
the best interest of justice.
(c) If the defendant is required to have the ignition
interlock device installed, the magistrate shall require that the
defendant have the device installed on the appropriate motor
vehicle, at the defendant's expense, before the 30th day after the
date the defendant is released on bond.
(c-1) If the defendant is required to wear the alcohol
monitoring device, the magistrate shall require the defendant to
obtain the device at the defendant's expense and have the device
secured on the defendant before the 10th day after the defendant is
released on bond.
(d) The magistrate may designate an appropriate agency to
verify the installation of the ignition interlock device and to
monitor the device. If the magistrate designates an agency under
this subsection, in each month during which the agency verifies the
installation of the ignition interlock device or provides a
monitoring service, the defendant shall pay a fee to the designated
agency in the amount set by the magistrate. The defendant shall pay
the initial fee at the time the agency verifies the installation of
the ignition interlock device. In each subsequent month during
which the defendant is required to pay a fee, the defendant shall
pay the fee on the first occasion in that month that the agency
provides a monitoring service. The magistrate shall set the fee in
an amount not to exceed $10 as determined by the county auditor, or
by the commissioners court of the county if the county does not have
a county auditor, to be sufficient to cover the cost incurred by the
designated agency in conducting the verification, [or] providing
the monitoring service, or both, as applicable in that county.
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.