87R5858 MCF-D
By: Rodriguez H.B. No. 2901
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to reporting requirements for certain in-custody deaths;
providing a civil penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 2.33 to read as follows:
Art. 2.33. NOTICE OF VIOLATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
FOR CERTAIN DEATHS IN CUSTODY; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) The office of
the attorney general shall conduct an investigation after receiving
a written and signed report, on a form prescribed by the office,
asserting that a person failed to submit a report required by
Article 49.18 or failed to include in that report all relevant facts
known to the person as required by that article. If the office
determines that the person failed to submit the report or failed to
include in the report all relevant facts known to the person, the
office shall provide notice of the failure to the person. The
notice must summarize the applicable requirement and state that the
person may be subject to a civil penalty as provided by Subsection
(b) or (c), as applicable.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), beginning on the
eighth day after the date of receiving notice under Subsection (a),
a person is liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 for
each day the person fails to submit the required report or a
supplemental report with all relevant facts known to the person, as
applicable.
(c) Beginning on the day after the date of receiving notice
under Subsection (a), a person who, in the five-year period
preceding the date the person received the notice, has been liable
for a civil penalty under Subsection (b) or this subsection is
liable for a civil penalty for each day the person fails to submit
the required report or a supplemental report with all relevant
facts known to the person, as applicable. The amount of a civil
penalty under this subsection is $10,000 for the first day and
$1,000 for each additional day that the person fails to submit the
report or a supplemental report, as applicable.
(d) The attorney general may sue to collect a civil penalty
under this article.
(e) A civil penalty collected under this article shall be
deposited to the credit of the compensation to victims of crime fund
established under Subchapter J, Chapter 56B.
SECTION 2. Article 49.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
(b-1) If after filing the report under Subsection (b) the
director determines that the report was filed with incomplete or
incorrect information regarding the circumstances of the death, the
director shall promptly file with the attorney general a
supplemental report containing the additional information.
SECTION 3. Sections 39.05(a) and (b), Penal Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A person commits an offense if the person is required to
conduct an investigation [and file a report] by Article 49.18, Code
of Criminal Procedure, and the person fails to investigate the
death[, fails to file the report as required, or fails to include in
a filed report facts known or discovered in the investigation].
(b) A person commits an offense if the person is required by
Section 501.055(a) [501.055], Government Code, to[:
[(1)] give notice of the death of an inmate and the
person fails to give the notice[; or
[(2) conduct an investigation and file a report and
the person:
[(A) fails to conduct the investigation or file
the report; or
[(B) fails to include in the report facts known
to the person or discovered by the person in the investigation].
SECTION 4. Section 39.05, Penal Code, as amended by this
Act, applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective
date of this Act. An offense committed before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date 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 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.