By: Huffman S.B. No. 1004
(In the Senate - Filed February 17, 2023;
February 22, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on
Criminal Justice; March 9, 2023, reported adversely, with
favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays
0; March 9, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1004 By: Huffman
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 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) It is an exception to the application of this section
that the tracking device was removed or disabled 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) 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 automatic revocation of the defendant's
parole or mandatory supervision under Section 508.285, Government
Code.
SECTION 3. Subchapter I, Chapter 508, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 508.285 to read as follows:
Sec. 508.285. AUTOMATIC REVOCATION ON CONVICTION OF
TAMPERING WITH ELECTRONIC MONITORING DEVICE. Notwithstanding any
other law, on a releasee's conviction of an offense under Section
38.112, Penal Code, the releasee's parole or mandatory supervision
is automatically revoked and the sentence for which the releasee
was on parole or mandatory supervision may not be considered to have
ceased to operate for purposes of Article 42.08, Code of Criminal
Procedure.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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