| 1 | 1 | | By: RodrÃguez, Hinojosa S.B. No. 589 |
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| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Filed February 16, 2015; February 23, 2015, |
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| 3 | 3 | | read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; |
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| 4 | 4 | | April 7, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4, |
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| 5 | 5 | | Nays 2; April 7, 2015, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | 6 | | Click here to see the committee vote |
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| 7 | 7 | | |
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| 8 | 8 | | |
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| 9 | 9 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 10 | 10 | | AN ACT |
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| 11 | 11 | | relating to the award of diligent participation credit to |
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| 12 | 12 | | defendants confined in a state jail felony facility. |
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| 13 | 13 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 14 | 14 | | SECTION 1. Sections 15(h)(5) and (6), Article 42.12, Code |
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| 15 | 15 | | of Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows: |
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| 16 | 16 | | (5) For a defendant who has participated in an |
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| 17 | 17 | | educational, vocational, treatment, or work program while confined |
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| 18 | 18 | | in a state jail felony facility, [not later than the 30th day before |
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| 19 | 19 | | the date on which the defendant will have served 80 percent of the |
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| 20 | 20 | | defendant's sentence,] the Texas Department of Criminal Justice |
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| 21 | 21 | | shall record [report to the sentencing court] the number of days |
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| 22 | 22 | | during which the defendant diligently participated in any |
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| 23 | 23 | | educational, vocational, treatment, or work program. The |
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| 24 | 24 | | department shall [The contents of a report submitted under this |
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| 25 | 25 | | subdivision are not subject to challenge by a defendant. |
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| 26 | 26 | | [(6) A judge, based on the report received under |
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| 27 | 27 | | Subdivision (5), may] credit against a defendant's sentence [any |
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| 28 | 28 | | time a defendant is required to serve in a state jail felony |
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| 29 | 29 | | facility] additional time for each day the defendant actually |
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| 30 | 30 | | served in the facility while diligently participating in an |
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| 31 | 31 | | educational, vocational, treatment, or work program. A time credit |
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| 32 | 32 | | under this subdivision may not exceed one-fifth of the defendant's |
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| 33 | 33 | | original sentence [amount of time the defendant is originally |
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| 34 | 34 | | required to serve in the facility]. A defendant may not be awarded |
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| 35 | 35 | | a credit under this subdivision for any period during which the |
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| 36 | 36 | | defendant is subject to disciplinary status [action]. A time |
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| 37 | 37 | | credit under this subdivision is a privilege and not a right. |
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| 38 | 38 | | SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 39 | 39 | | to a person confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense |
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| 40 | 40 | | committed on or after the effective date of this Act. A person |
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| 41 | 41 | | confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense committed |
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| 42 | 42 | | before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in |
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| 43 | 43 | | effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is |
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| 44 | 44 | | continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, |
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| 45 | 45 | | an offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if |
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| 46 | 46 | | any element of the offense occurred before that date. |
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| 47 | 47 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |
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| 48 | 48 | | * * * * * |
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