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


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3613
By: Martinez Fischer
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/29/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, the court is required to sentence certain repeat
offenders of public intoxication to probation, which includes substance
abuse counseling.   A court is 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 may be 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.  C.S.H.B. 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

C.S.H.B. 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 place a defendant
convicted of disorderly conduct or public intoxication on community
supervision.  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.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 3613 modifies the original bill by authorizing a court to place a
defendant convicted of public intoxication or disorderly conduct on
community supervision.  The original bill authorized a court, upon a
showing of good cause, to sentence such a defendant to confinement in jail
for a term not to exceed 180 days, rather than probation.  The substitute
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.