82R22476 KCR-D
By: Allen H.B. No. 2649
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2649:
By: Allen C.S.H.B. No. 2649
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the award of diligent participation credit to
defendants confined in a state jail felony facility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 15(h), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended by amending Subdivision (1) and adding
Subdivisions (4) and (5) to read as follows:
(1) A defendant confined in a state jail felony
facility does not earn good conduct time for time served in the
facility but may be awarded diligent participation credit in
accordance with Subdivision (5).
(4) Not later than the 30th day before the date on
which a defendant will have served 80 percent of the defendant's
sentence, the facility director of the state jail felony facility
in which the defendant is confined shall report to the sentencing
court on the defendant's conduct and programmatic progress while
confined in the facility. The report must contain an indication of:
(A) whether the defendant completed a substance
abuse treatment program or an industrial, work, agricultural,
educational, or vocational program in which the defendant
participated; and
(B) if the defendant did not fully complete a
program described by Paragraph (A) but completed at least
two-thirds of the program, whether the defendant nonetheless
diligently participated in the program and did not fully complete
the program only because of illness, injury, or an emergency
circumstance.
(5) A judge, based on the report received under
Subdivision (4), may credit against any time a defendant is
required to serve in a state jail felony facility an additional time
for each day the defendant actually serves in the facility for the
defendant's completion of, or diligent participation in, a program
provided to defendants confined in the facility that is a substance
abuse treatment program not otherwise described by this subsection
or is an industrial, work, agricultural, educational, or vocational
program. A time credit under this subdivision may not exceed
one-fifth of the amount of time the defendant is originally
required to serve in the facility. A defendant may not be awarded a
credit under this subdivision for any period during which the
defendant is subject to disciplinary action.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
person confined in a state jail felony facility on or after the
effective date of this Act, regardless of when the offense for which
the person is serving a sentence was committed.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.