HBA-AMW H.B. 2560 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2560 By: Dunnam Criminal Jurisprudence 3/13/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, a judge is not required to give a convicted felon probation, even if a jury has recommended it. House Bill 2560 authorizes a jury to recommend community supervision for a person convicted of a state jail felony and requires the judge to place the person on community supervision if the defendant has not been previously convicted of a felony. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2560 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to authorize a jury that imposes confinement as punishment for a state jail felony to recommend to the judge that the judge suspend the imposition of the sentence and place the defendant on community supervision. The bill requires the judge to suspend the imposition of the sentence and to place the defendant on community supervision if the jury makes that recommendation in the verdict. The bill provides that a defendant is eligible for jury recommended community supervision only if before the trial begins the defendant files a written sworn motion with the judge that the defendant has not been previously convicted of a felony in this or any other state and the jury enters in the verdict a finding that the information in the defendant's motion is true. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.