By: Allen H.B. No. 1546
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. Sections 15(h)(5) and (6), Article 42.12, Code
of Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
(5) For a defendant who has participated in an
educational, vocational, treatment, or work program while confined
in a state jail felony facility, not later than the 30th day before
the date on which the defendant will have served 80 percent of the
defendant's sentence, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
shall report to the sentencing court the number of days during which
the defendant diligently participated in any educational,
vocational, treatment, or work program. [The contents of a report
submitted under this subdivision are not subject to challenge by a
defendant.]
(6) A judge, based on the report received under
Subdivision (5), may credit against any time a defendant is
required to serve in a state jail felony facility additional time
for each day the defendant actually served in the facility while
diligently participating in an educational, vocational, treatment,
or work program. If the judge does not take action under this
subdivision on or before the 30th day after the date the judge
receives the report, the department shall credit against any time a
defendant is required to serve in a state jail felony facility
additional time for each day the defendant actually served in the
facility while diligently participating in an educational,
vocational, treatment, or work program. A time credit under this
subdivision may not exceed one-fifth of the defendant's original
sentence [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 status [action]. A time credit under this
subdivision is a privilege and not a right.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a person confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense
committed on or after the effective date of this Act. A person
confined in a state jail felony facility for 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, 2015.