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.