By: Leach H.B. No. 3731
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the database used to provide criminal justice agencies
with real time information about releasees from the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice, the notification to local law
enforcement of the release of certain inmates, and notice of a
warrant issued by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
regarding a person released on parole.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 508; Subchapter H, Chapter
508; and Sections 508.115(a) and (d) Government Code, are amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 508.120. RELEASEE DATABASE. (a) In this section,
"criminal justice agency" has the meaning assigned by Article
60.01, Code of Criminal Procedure.
(b) The division shall establish and maintain a database for
the purpose of providing real time information about releasees to
criminal justice agencies.
(c) The database:
(1) must contain the following information about a
releasee, to the extent that the information is available:
(A) a photograph;
(B) a physical description;
(C) gang affiliation;
(D) residential history;
(E) family history;
(F) employment history;
(G) a list of persons who visited the releasee
during the releasee's confinement by the department;
(H) the make, model, and license plate number of
any vehicle operated by the releasee; and
(I) any other information that the division
considers appropriate; and
(2) must be updated as soon as practicable after a
parole officer learns of a change in any information described by
Subdivision (1).
(d) In establishing a database under this section, the
division may utilize an existing database that is maintained by the
department, including the corrections tracking system established
under Article 60.02, Code of Criminal Procedure.
SECTION 2. Sections 508.115(a) and (d), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) Not later than the 11th day before the date a parole
panel orders the release on parole of an inmate or not later than
the 11th day after the date the board recommends that the governor
grant executive clemency, the division shall give notice in
accordance with Subsection (d) to [notify] the sheriffs, each chief
of police, the prosecuting attorneys, and the district judges in
the county in which the inmate was convicted and the county to which
the inmate is released that a parole panel is considering release on
parole or the governor is considering clemency.
(d) The notice must include [state]:
(1) the inmate's name, age, sex, and race;
(2) a photograph of the inmate;
(3) if applicable:
(A) the address at which the inmate will reside;
(B) the name of the inmate's parole supervisor or
the director of the halfway house to which the inmate is
transferred, as appropriate; and
(C) the rules or conditions of the inmate's
release;
(4) [(2)] the county in which the inmate was
convicted; and
(5) [(3)] the offense for which the inmate was
convicted.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act to Section
508.115, Government Code, applies only to the consideration by a
parole panel of the release of an inmate or the transfer of an
inmate to a halfway house that occurs on or after September 1, 2015,
or to a recommendation that the governor grant executive clemency
that is made on or after that date.
SECTION 4. Subchapter H, Chapter 508, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 508.2511 to read as follows:
Sec. 508.2511. NOTICE OF WARRANT ISSUANCE. The department
shall provide notice of a warrant issued under this subchapter to
each law enforcement agency whose jurisdiction includes the
residence of the releasee, according to the department's records.
SECTION 5. Section 508.2511, Government Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to a warrant issued under Subchapter H,
Chapter 508, Government Code, on or after the effective date of this
Act.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.