82R3840 JSC-D
By: Carter H.B. No. 982
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to creating an offense for failure to install and maintain
an ignition interlock device for persons convicted of certain
intoxication offenses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 49.09(h), Penal Code, is amended to read
as follows:
(h) This subsection applies only to a person convicted of a
second or subsequent offense relating to the operating of a motor
vehicle while intoxicated committed within five years of the date
on which the most recent preceding offense was committed. The court
shall enter an order that requires the defendant to have a device
installed, on each motor vehicle owned or operated by the
defendant, that uses a deep-lung breath analysis mechanism to make
impractical the operation of the motor vehicle if ethyl alcohol is
detected in the breath of the operator, and that requires that
before the first anniversary of the ending date of the period of
license suspension under Section 521.344, Transportation Code, the
defendant not operate any motor vehicle that is not equipped with
that device. The court shall require the defendant to obtain the
device at the defendant's own cost on or before that ending date,
require the defendant to provide evidence to the court on or before
that ending date that the device has been installed on each
appropriate vehicle, and order the device to remain installed on
each vehicle until the first anniversary of that ending date. If
the court determines the offender is unable to pay for the device,
the court may impose a reasonable payment schedule not to extend
beyond the first anniversary of the date of installation. The
Department of Public Safety shall approve devices for use under
this subsection. Section 521.247, Transportation Code, applies to
the approval of a device under this subsection and the consequences
of that approval. [Failure to comply with an order entered under
this subsection is punishable by contempt. For the purpose of
enforcing this subsection, the court that enters an order under
this subsection retains jurisdiction over the defendant until the
date on which the device is no longer required to remain installed.]
To the extent of a conflict between this subsection and Section
13(i), Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, this subsection
controls.
SECTION 2. Chapter 49, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Section 49.095 to read as follows:
Sec. 49.095. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH COURT ORDER REQUIRING
IGNITION INTERLOCK DEVICE. (a) A person who is convicted of an
offense under this chapter and required by a court order under
Section 49.09(h) to install and keep an ignition interlock device
on a vehicle for a specified period commits an offense if the person
knowingly:
(1) fails to install the device by the date specified
in the court order; or
(2) fails to keep the device installed on the vehicle
during the period specified in the court order.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.