By: Averitt S.B. No. 2340
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to electronic monitoring and other alternative means for
certain defendants to discharge a fine or costs or satisfy a term of
confinement in county jail.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 42.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection
(e) to read as follows:
(a) A court [in a county served by a community supervision
and corrections department that has an electronic monitoring
program approved by the community justice assistance division of
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice] may require a defendant
to serve all or part of a sentence of confinement in county jail by
participating in an [submitting to] electronic monitoring program
rather than being confined in the county jail, if the program:
(1) is operated by a community supervision and
corrections department that serves the county in which the court is
located and has been approved by the community justice assistance
division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; or
(2) is operated by the commissioners court of the
county, or by a private vendor under contract with the
commissioners court, under Section 351.904, Local Government Code,
if the defendant has not been placed on community supervision.
(d) A defendant who submits to electronic monitoring or
participates in the house arrest program under this article
[section] discharges a sentence of confinement in the same manner
as if the defendant were confined in county jail [without
deductions, good conduct time credits, or commutations].
(e) A court may revoke a defendant's participation in an
electronic monitoring program and require the defendant to serve
the remainder of the defendant's sentence of confinement in county
jail if the defendant violates a condition imposed by a court under
this article, including a condition requiring the defendant to pay
for participating in the program under Subsection (c).
SECTION 2. Subsection (e), Article 43.09, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(e) A court in a county that operates an electronic
monitoring program or contracts with a private vendor to operate an
electronic monitoring program under Section 351.904, Local
Government Code, or that is served by a community supervision and
corrections department that operates [has] an electronic
monitoring program approved by the community justice assistance
division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, may require a
defendant who is unable to pay a fine or costs to discharge all or
part of the fine or costs by participating in the program
[submitting to electronic monitoring]. A defendant who
participates in an [that submits to] electronic monitoring program
under this subsection discharges fines and costs in the same manner
as if the defendant were confined in county jail.
SECTION 3. Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 43.10. MANUAL LABOR. Where the punishment assessed in
a conviction for a misdemeanor is confinement in jail for more than
one day[,] or [where in such conviction the punishment] is
[assessed] only [at] a pecuniary fine and the defendant [party so
convicted] is unable to pay the fine and costs adjudged against the
defendant [him], or where the defendant [party] is sentenced to
jail for a felony or is confined in jail after conviction of a
felony, the defendant [party convicted] shall be required to work
in the county jail industries program or shall be required to do
manual labor in accordance with [the provisions of this article
under] the following rules and regulations:
1. Each commissioners court may provide for the
erection of a workhouse and the establishment of a county farm in
connection therewith for the purpose of utilizing the labor of
defendants under this article [said parties so convicted];
2. Such farms and workhouses shall be under the
control and management of the sheriff, and the sheriff may adopt
such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the rules and
regulations of the Commission on Jail Standards and with the laws as
the sheriff deems necessary;
3. Such overseers and guards may be employed by the
sheriff under the authority of the commissioners court as may be
necessary to prevent escapes and to enforce such labor, and they
shall be paid out of the county treasury such compensation as the
commissioners court may prescribe;
4. They shall be put to labor upon public works and
maintenance projects, including public works and maintenance
projects for a political subdivision located in whole or in part in
the county. They may be put to labor upon maintenance projects for
a cemetery that the commissioners court uses public funds, county
employees, or county equipment to maintain under Section 713.028,
Health and Safety Code. They may also be put to labor providing
maintenance and related services to a nonprofit organization that
qualifies for a tax exemption under Section 501(a), Internal
Revenue Code of 1986, as an organization described by Section
501(c)(3) of that code, and is organized as a nonprofit corporation
under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et
seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), provided that, at the
sheriff's request, the commissioners court determines that the
nonprofit organization provides a public service to the county or
to a political subdivision located in whole or in part in the
county;
5. A defendant [One] who from age, disease, or other
physical or mental disability is unable to do manual labor shall not
be required to work. The defendant's [His] inability to do manual
labor may be determined by a physician appointed for that purpose by
the county judge or the commissioners court, who shall be paid for
such service such compensation as said court may allow; and
6. For each day of manual labor, in addition to any
other credits allowed by law, a defendant is entitled to have one
day deducted from each sentence the defendant [he] is serving. [The
deduction authorized by this article, when combined with the
deduction required by Article 42.10 of this code, may not exceed
two-thirds (2/3) of the sentence.]
SECTION 4. Article 43.101, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection
(d) to read as follows:
(a) A defendant who is confined in county jail before
[awaiting] trial, after conviction of a misdemeanor, or [a
defendant confined in county jail] after conviction of a felony or
revocation of community supervision, parole, or mandatory
supervision and awaiting transfer to the [institutional division of
the] Texas Department of Criminal Justice may volunteer to
participate in any work program operated by the sheriff that uses
the labor of convicted defendants.
(b) The sheriff may accept a defendant as a volunteer under
Subsection (a) [of this section] if the defendant is not awaiting
trial for an offense involving violence or is not awaiting transfer
to the [institutional division of the] Texas Department of Criminal
Justice after conviction of a felony involving violence, and if the
sheriff determines that the inmate has not engaged previously in
violent conduct and does not pose a security risk to the general
public if allowed to participate in the work program.
(d) For each day of volunteer work, in addition to any other
credits allowed by law, the court or sheriff may deduct one day from
each sentence imposed on the defendant in relation to the offense or
violation of the terms of release for which the defendant was
confined in county jail.
SECTION 5. Subsection (b), Article 44.041, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(b) A court that releases a defendant under this article
must require the defendant to participate in a program under
Article 42.033, 42.034, 42.035, or 42.036 [of this code] during the
pendency of the appeal. A [The] defendant required to participate
in a program may [not] receive credit toward completion of the
defendant's sentence while participating in the [a] program in the
same manner and to the same extent provided by Article 42.033,
42.034, 42.035, or 42.036, as applicable [required by this
subsection].
SECTION 6. Subchapter Z, Chapter 351, Local Government
Code, is amended by adding Section 351.904 to read as follows:
Sec. 351.904. ELECTRONIC MONITORING PROGRAM. (a) A
commissioners court of a county may establish and operate an
electronic monitoring program for the purpose of monitoring
defendants required by a court of the county to participate in an
electronic monitoring program under:
(1) Article 43.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, to
discharge a fine or costs; or
(2) Article 42.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, as an
alternative to serving all or part of a sentence of confinement in
county jail.
(b) The commissioners court shall provide for the sheriff or
the community supervision and corrections department serving the
county, under an agreement with the commissioners court, to oversee
and operate, or, if the program is operated by a private vendor
under Subsection (c), oversee the operation of, an electronic
monitoring program established under this section.
(c) A commissioners court may contract with a private vendor
to operate an electronic monitoring program under this section,
including by enrolling and tracking participants in the program and
performing periodic reviews with participants regarding compliance
with the program.
(d) A commissioners court may use money that a defendant is
ordered to pay to a county under Article 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).
(e) A commissioners court may subsidize all or part of the
cost of a defendant's participation in an electronic monitoring
program under this section if the defendant is indigent.
(f) A commissioners court may contract for any available
electronic monitoring technology, including a technology that
provides continuous positional tracking of the participant, that
meets the approval of the commissioners court and either the
sheriff or the community supervision and corrections department, as
appropriate.
SECTION 7. Section 6, Article 42.032, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is repealed.
SECTION 8. Subsection (e), Article 42.035, Code of Criminal
Procedure, as added by this Act, applies only to a defendant who is
sentenced to a term of confinement in county jail for an offense
committed on or after September 1, 2009. A defendant who is
sentenced to a term of confinement in county jail for an offense
committed before September 1, 2009, is governed 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 September 1, 2009, if any element of the
offense occurred before that date.
SECTION 9. The changes in law made by this Act in amending
Article 43.10 and Subsection (b), Article 44.041, Code of Criminal
Procedure, and in repealing Section 6, Article 42.032, Code of
Criminal Procedure, apply only to credit that is earned by a
defendant as a result of participation in a program or work
performed on or after the effective date of this Act. The accrual
of credit by a defendant as a result of participation in a program
or work performed before the effective date of this Act is governed
by the law in effect when the participation occurred or work was
performed, and the former law remains in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 10. 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, 2009.