HBA-KDB H.B. 3613 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3613
By: Martinez Fischer
Criminal Jurisprudence
7/17/2001
Enrolled



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Prior to the 77th Legislature, a court was required to sentence certain
repeat offenders of public intoxication to probation, which includes
substance abuse counseling.   The court was authorized to sentence such an
offender to jail only after the third conviction.  There is concern that
certain individuals who are sentenced to probation and fined do not have
the resources to comply with the terms of the punishment.  When an offender
violates the terms of probation, probation is revoked and the offender is
sent to jail.  This situation is inefficient as well as burdensome for
judges, district attorneys, police officers, and probation officers who are
forced to devote more time to cases in which the offender may have been
better served with one jail sentence.  House Bill 3613 authorizes, rather
than requires, a court to suspend the imposition of a sentence and place a
defendant convicted of disorderly conduct or public intoxication on
community supervision. 

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 3613 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to authorize, rather
than require, a court, on conviction of an offense for which punishment is
enhanced, to suspend the imposition of the sentence and to place a
defendant convicted of disorderly conduct or public intoxication on
community supervision if the court finds that the defendant would benefit
from community supervision and enters its finding on the record. The bill
deletes the provision which provides that the requirement of a court to
place a defendant on community supervision does not apply to a defendant
who has previously been convicted of such an offense. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.