By: Huffman, et al. S.B. No. 1004
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to creating the criminal offense of tampering with an
electronic monitoring device and to certain consequences on
conviction of that offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 38, Penal Code, is amended by adding
Section 38.112 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.112. TAMPERING WITH ELECTRONIC MONITORING DEVICE.
(a) A person who is required to submit to electronic monitoring of
the person's location as part of an electronic monitoring program
under Article 42.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, or as a condition
of community supervision, parole, mandatory supervision, or
release on bail commits an offense if the person knowingly removes
or disables, or causes or conspires or cooperates with another
person to remove or disable, a tracking device that the person is
required to wear to enable the electronic monitoring of the
person's location.
(b) An offense under this section is a state jail felony,
except that the offense is a felony of the third degree if the
person is in the super-intensive supervision program described by
Section 508.317(d), Government Code.
(c) This section does not apply to the removal or disabling
of a tracking device by a health care provider, as defined by
Section 161.201, Health and Safety Code, due to medical necessity.
SECTION 2. Article 42.08, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
(b-1)(1) A judge sentencing a defendant convicted of an
offense under Section 38.112, Penal Code, committed while on parole
or mandatory supervision may order the sentence for the offense to:
(A) run concurrently with the sentence for the
offense for which the defendant was released on parole or to
mandatory supervision; or
(B) if the defendant's parole or mandatory
supervision has been revoked, commence immediately on completion of
the sentence for the offense for which the defendant was released on
parole or to mandatory supervision.
(2) A judge who orders a sentence to be imposed
consecutively in the manner described by Subdivision (1)(B) shall,
on pronouncing the sentence, order the defendant transferred to the
custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for purposes of
serving the applicable sentences consecutively as described by that
subdivision if the defendant has not been taken into custody by the
department following the revocation of the defendant's parole or
mandatory supervision.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.