82R7464 KEL-D
By: Thompson H.B. No. 3001
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the electronic monitoring of certain high-risk sex
offenders; providing a penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 42, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 42.0155 to read as follows:
Art. 42.0155. FINDING REGARDING HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDER.
(a) This article applies only to an offense under:
(1) Section 21.02, 21.11(a)(1), 22.011, or 22.021,
Penal Code;
(2) Section 43.25, Penal Code;
(3) Section 20.04(a)(4), Penal Code, if the conduct is
committed with the intent to violate or abuse the victim of the
conduct sexually; or
(4) Section 30.02, Penal Code, if the conduct is
punishable under Subsection (d) of that section and is committed
with the intent to commit an offense listed in Subdivision (1) or
(2).
(b) In the trial of an offense to which this article
applies, the court shall make an affirmative finding of fact and
enter the affirmative finding in the judgment in the case if the
court determines by a preponderance of the evidence that the
defendant is highly likely to commit a subsequent offense to which
this article applies during a time at which the defendant is not
confined in a penal institution.
SECTION 2. Title 1, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended
by adding Chapter 61A to read as follows:
CHAPTER 61A. ELECTRONIC MONITORING OF
CERTAIN HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDERS
Art. 61A.01. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Department" means the Department of Public
Safety.
(2) "Local law enforcement authority" has the meaning
assigned by Article 62.001.
(3) "Monitoring system" means an electronic
monitoring service, global positioning satellite service, or other
appropriate technological service that is designed to track a
person's location.
(4) "Penal institution" means a confinement facility
operated by or under contract with any division of the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice.
Art. 61A.02. MONITORING OF CERTAIN HIGH-RISK SEX OFFENDERS.
(a) This article applies only to a person who is discharged from a
penal institution, who has been convicted of an offense for which
the judgment in the case contains an affirmative finding under
Article 42.0155, and who:
(1) is not under the supervision of the parole
division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; or
(2) has not been civilly committed under Chapter 841,
Health and Safety Code.
(b) A person described by Subsection (a) shall participate
in any monitoring system program implemented under Subsection (c).
(c) The department shall implement and coordinate a
monitoring system program that tracks the location of persons
subject to this chapter. A monitoring system program implemented
under this subsection must require:
(1) for each person subject to this chapter, the
department to provide monitoring system equipment, sufficient to
track the person's location, to the local law enforcement authority
designated as the person's primary registration authority under
Chapter 62;
(2) the local law enforcement authority designated as
a person's primary registration authority under Chapter 62 to use
the monitoring system equipment provided under Subdivision (1) to
verify the authenticity of any geographically verifiable
information, including residence, contained in a sex offender
registration form submitted by the person to that authority under
Article 62.051; and
(3) the manufacturer or vendor of the monitoring
system equipment provided to a local law enforcement authority
under Subdivision (1) to provide training and technological support
to the authority with respect to the equipment.
(d) A monitoring system that is part of a monitoring system
program described by Subsection (c) must track a person's location
and periodically provide a cumulative report of the tracked
person's location to the department. The monitoring system is not
required to be capable of tracking a person's location in real time
or providing a real-time report of the person's location to the
department.
(e) A person who is not indigent and who is required to
participate in a monitoring system program described by Subsection
(c) is responsible for the cost of the monitoring system and monthly
shall pay to the person's primary registration authority and to the
department the amount that the primary registration authority or
department, as applicable, determines is necessary to defray that
entity's cost of operating the system with respect to the person
during the preceding month.
(f) The public safety director of the department shall adopt
rules as necessary to implement and coordinate the monitoring
system program described by Subsection (c).
Art. 61A.03. EXEMPTION FROM MONITORING FOR CERTAIN SEX
OFFENDERS. (a) Beginning on the 10th anniversary of the person's
discharge from a penal institution, completion of a parole period,
or participation in an early release from supervision program under
Section 508.155(c), Government Code, whichever is latest, but not
more than once during each calendar year, a person required to
register under this chapter may petition the court having
jurisdiction over the case for an order exempting the person from
participating in a monitoring system program under this chapter.
(b) After a hearing on the petition described by Subsection
(a), the court may issue an order exempting the person from
participating in a monitoring system program under this chapter if
the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that an exemption
would not constitute a threat to public safety.
(c) An order exempting the person from participating in a
monitoring system program under this chapter does not expire,
except that the court may withdraw the order if after the order is
issued:
(1) the person is convicted of an offense listed in
Article 62.001; or
(2) at a hearing, the court finds by a preponderance of
the evidence that the continuation of an exemption order issued
under Subsection (b) would constitute a threat to public safety.
Art. 61A.04. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH MONITORING
REQUIREMENTS. (a) A person commits an offense if the person who is
subject to this chapter fails to participate in a monitoring system
program implemented under this chapter.
(b) An offense under this article is a felony of the third
degree.
Art. 61A.05. FUNDING. The department may solicit and
accept a gift, grant, or donation from any source, including a
foundation, private entity, governmental entity, or institution of
higher education, to help fund the implementation of a monitoring
system program under this chapter.
SECTION 3. (a) Not later than September 15, 2011, the
Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas shall issue a
request for qualifications or proposal for the purchase of any
monitoring system equipment necessary to operate the monitoring
system program described by Chapter 61A, Code of Criminal
Procedure, as added by this Act. The department may consider only
those responses to the request for qualifications or proposal that
are received from, and may only contract with, a manufacturer of the
monitoring system equipment.
(b) The selection process through which the Department of
Public Safety chooses a manufacturer with which to contract under
Subsection (a) of this section must include side-by-side test
comparisons of all products being considered. In awarding a
contract under Subsection (a) of this section, the department may
not give greater weight to cost considerations than to
considerations concerning the product test results, product
reliability and functionality, and the protection of public safety.
SECTION 4. (a) Article 42.0155, Code of Criminal
Procedure, as added by this Act, applies only to a judgment of
conviction entered for an offense committed on or after the
effective date of this Act.
(b) The change in law made by this Act in adding Chapter 61A,
Code of Criminal Procedure, applies only to an offense committed on
or after the effective date of this Act.
(c) 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 the
purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the
effective date of this Act if any element of the offense was
committed before that date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.