By: Kacal, Harris H.B. No. 2020
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the release of defendants on bail.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Damon Allen Act.
SECTION 2. Chapter 17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Articles 17.021 and 17.027 to read as follows:
Art. 17.021. BAIL ADVISORY COMMISSION. (a) The Bail
Advisory Commission is established to develop recommendations for
the Texas Judicial Council regarding a validated pretrial risk
assessment tool that is standardized for statewide use and
regarding best practices for personal bond offices. The
recommendations must include a validated pretrial risk assessment
tool that is developed as described by Subsection (h).
(b) The commission is composed of 12 members appointed as
follows:
(1) four members with an interest in criminal justice
who are appointed by the governor, including:
(A) one person with at least 10 years of
experience acting, either as principal or on behalf of a
corporation, as a surety for compensation;
(B) one person with at least 10 years of law
enforcement experience;
(C) one attorney licensed to practice law in this
state who has practiced primarily in the area of criminal defense
for at least 10 years; and
(D) one attorney licensed to practice law in this
state who has practiced criminal law in the office of an attorney
representing the state for at least 10 years;
(2) the presiding officer of the Senate Committee on
Criminal Justice;
(3) two members of the senate who are appointed by the
lieutenant governor;
(4) the presiding officer of the House Committee on
Criminal Jurisprudence;
(5) two members of the house of representatives who
are appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;
(6) one member appointed by the chief justice of the
supreme court; and
(7) one member appointed by the presiding judge of the
court of criminal appeals.
(c) In making appointments under Subsections (b)(1), (3),
and (5), the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the
house of representatives shall coordinate to ensure that the
membership of the commission reflects, to the extent possible, the
ethnic, racial, and geographic diversity of this state.
(d) The governor shall designate the presiding officer of
the commission.
(e) The commission shall meet at the call of the presiding
officer and may hold public meetings as necessary to fulfill its
duties under this article.
(f) A member of the commission is not entitled to
compensation for service on the commission but is entitled to
reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred in
performing commission duties.
(g) The Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial
System shall provide administrative support for the commission.
Funding for the administrative and operational expenses of the
commission, including any contracts or other engagements necessary
for the development of a recommended validated pretrial risk
assessment tool as described by Subsection (h)(1), shall be
provided through an appropriation to the Office of Court
Administration for that purpose.
(h) The commission shall, in coordination with the Office of
Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System:
(1) develop a recommended validated pretrial risk
assessment tool that is standardized for statewide use, that is
available for use for purposes of Article 17.1501, and that:
(A) is objective, validated for its intended use,
and standardized;
(B) is based on an analysis of empirical data and
risk factors relevant to:
(i) the risk of a defendant intentionally
failing to appear in court as required; and
(ii) the safety of the community or the
victim of the alleged offense if the defendant is released;
(C) does not consider factors that
disproportionately affect persons who are members of racial or
ethnic minority groups or who are socioeconomically disadvantaged
and has been demonstrated to produce results that are unbiased with
respect to the race or ethnicity of defendants; and
(D) is designed to function in a transparent
manner with respect to the public and each defendant to whom the
tool is applied;
(2) develop recommendations regarding best practices
for personal bond offices to use for pretrial services authorized
by Article 17.42;
(3) collect and analyze information related to
pretrial release practices and distribute the analyses and
information as a resource to courts, personal bond offices, and
other relevant organizations; and
(4) collect information relating to defendants
released on bail, including the rate of failure to appear,
commission of new offenses, and other relevant information.
(i) The commission shall make the factors considered in
developing the tool available to the public.
(j) Not later than March 1, 2020, the commission shall
prepare a report containing the recommendations of the commission
developed under this article, including the commission's
recommended validated pretrial risk assessment tool, and shall
deliver the report to the governor, the lieutenant governor, each
member of the legislature, the chief justice of the supreme court,
the presiding judge of the court of criminal appeals, and the Texas
Judicial Council.
(k) The Texas Judicial Council shall review the report and
may recommend to the commission changes to the tool consistent with
the requirements of Subsection (h)(1). Any recommended changes
must be submitted to the commission not later than June 1, 2020. If
the council recommends changes to the tool, the commission shall
revise the tool in accordance with the recommendations, prepare a
report containing the recommended tool as revised, and deliver the
report to the persons and entities listed in Subsection (j) not
later than August 1, 2020.
(l) Not later than August 31, 2020, the Texas Judicial
Council shall adopt either the validated pretrial risk assessment
tool recommended by the commission under Subsection (j) or the
revised tool recommended by the commission under Subsection (k).
(m) The Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial
System shall provide the validated pretrial risk assessment tool
adopted under Subsection (l) to magistrates in this state at no
cost.
(n) A county may, as necessary, in consultation with the
district and county court at law judges and the county bail bond
board, if one exists, modify the validated pretrial risk assessment
tool adopted under this article as necessary to ensure that the
requirements of Subsection (h)(1) are being met and, as soon as
practicable, shall provide notice of that modification to the
Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System.
(o) Not later than January 1, 2023, the commission shall
prepare a report regarding the implementation and use of the
validated pretrial risk assessment tool adopted under Subsection
(l) and its effect on pretrial recidivism rates and the rates at
which defendants failed to appear in court as required and shall
deliver the report to the governor, the lieutenant governor, each
member of the legislature, the chief justice of the supreme court,
the presiding judge of the court of criminal appeals, and the Texas
Judicial Council. The report must include a description of any
modifications to the tool made by counties under this article and
known to the commission at the time of the report.
(p) The commission is abolished effective September 1,
2023.
Art. 17.027. AUTHORITY TO RELEASE ON BAIL IN CERTAIN CASES.
(a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided by Article
17.03(b), only a magistrate who meets the qualifications described
by Subsection (b) may release on bail a defendant charged with an
offense:
(1) punishable as a felony; or
(2) under Chapter 21 or 22, Penal Code, that is
punishable as a Class B misdemeanor or any higher category of
offense.
(b) To qualify to release on bail a defendant described by
Subsection (a), a magistrate must:
(1) be a resident of this state and one of the counties
in which the magistrate serves;
(2) not have been removed from office by impeachment,
by the supreme court, by the governor on address to the legislature,
by a tribunal reviewing a recommendation of the State Commission on
Judicial Conduct, or by the legislature's abolition of the
magistrate's court; and
(3) not have resigned from office after having
received notice that formal proceedings by the State Commission on
Judicial Conduct had been instituted as provided by Section 33.022,
Government Code, and before final disposition of the proceedings.
(c) In addition to the requirements of Subsection (b), to
qualify to release on bail a defendant described by Subsection (a),
a magistrate must have completed not less than four hours of
instruction regarding the magistrate's duties under Article 17.028
and duties with respect to setting bail in criminal cases.
SECTION 3. Chapter 17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 17.028 to read as follows:
Art. 17.028. PRETRIAL RISK ASSESSMENT. (a) A magistrate
considering the release on bail of a defendant charged with an
offense punishable as a Class B misdemeanor or any higher category
of offense shall order that:
(1) the personal bond office established under Article
17.42 for the county in which the defendant is being detained, or
other suitably trained person, use the validated pretrial risk
assessment tool described by Article 17.1501 to conduct a pretrial
risk assessment with respect to the defendant; and
(2) the results of the assessment be provided to the
magistrate within 48 hours of the defendant's arrest.
(b) A magistrate may not, without the consent of the
sheriff, order a sheriff or sheriff's department personnel to
conduct a pretrial risk assessment under Subsection (a).
(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a magistrate may
personally conduct a pretrial risk assessment using the validated
pretrial risk assessment tool described by Article 17.1501.
(d) The magistrate shall consider the results of the
pretrial risk assessment before making a bail decision.
SECTION 4. Article 17.15, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 17.15. RULES FOR SETTING [FIXING] AMOUNT OF BAIL. (a)
The amount of bail to be required in any case is to be regulated by
the court, judge, magistrate, or officer taking the bail in
accordance with Articles 17.20, 17.21, and 17.22 and is [; they are
to be] governed [in the exercise of this discretion] by the
Constitution and [by] the following rules:
(1) [1.] The bail shall be sufficiently high to give
reasonable assurance that the undertaking will be complied with.
(2) [2.] The power to require bail is not to be so used
as to make it an instrument of oppression.
(3) [3.] The nature of the offense, [and] the
circumstances under which the offense [it] was committed, and the
defendant's criminal history, including acts of family violence,
shall [are to] be considered.
(4) [4.] The ability to make bail shall [is to] be
considered [regarded], and proof may be taken upon this point.
(5) [5.] The future safety of a victim of the alleged
offense, peace officers, and the community shall be considered.
(6) Any other relevant facts or circumstances may be
considered.
(b) In this article, "family violence" has the meaning
assigned by Section 71.004, Family Code.
SECTION 5. Chapter 17, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 17.1501 to read as follows:
Art. 17.1501. RULES FOR SETTING AMOUNT OF BAIL: PRETRIAL
RISK ASSESSMENT. In addition to the requirements of Article 17.15,
in setting the amount of bail to be required in any case, the court,
judge, magistrate, or officer taking the bail shall consider the
results of a pretrial risk assessment conducted using the validated
pretrial risk assessment tool adopted for statewide use under
Article 17.021(l).
SECTION 6. As soon as practicable but not later than
September 1, 2020, the Office of Court Administration of the Texas
Judicial System shall make available on the office's Internet
website the validated pretrial risk assessment tool adopted under
Article 17.021(l), Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this
Act, and any related forms and materials. If those items are made
available before September 1, 2020, the office shall notify each
court clerk, judge or other magistrate, and office of an attorney
representing the state.
SECTION 7. (a) Except as otherwise provided by this Act,
the changes in law made by this Act apply only to a person who is
arrested on or after September 1, 2020.
(b) Article 17.027, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by
this Act, and Article 17.15, Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended
by this Act, apply to a person who is arrested on or after September
1, 2019.
SECTION 8. Article 17.027(c), Code of Criminal Procedure,
as added by this Act, applies only with respect to a release of a
defendant on bail that occurs on or after September 1, 2020.
SECTION 9. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, this Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
(b) Articles 17.028 and 17.1501, Code of Criminal
Procedure, as added by this Act, take effect September 1, 2020.