HBA-LJP S.B. 1531 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1531 By: Cain Criminal Jurisprudence 5/16/2001 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a court is authorized to order a defendant placed on community supervision for alcohol related offenses to install in the motor vehicle of the defendant a deep-lung breath analysis mechanism to make impractical the operation of the motor vehicle if ethyl alcohol is detected in the breath of the operator of the vehicle. However, a court is only required to order the installation of the device for 50 percent of the time period of the community supervision and there are no current laws providing for the removal of these devices. Senate Bill 1531 modifies the time period that a court is required to order a defendant convicted of certain alcohol related offenses to install the device in a motor vehicle and provides for the removal of the device. 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 Senate Bill 1531 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to modify the time period, from a period of not less than 50 percent of the community supervision period to the expiration of the community supervision period or until ordered removed by the court, that a court that convicts a defendant of driving, flying, boating, or assembling or operating an amusement ride while intoxicated or manslaughter or assault caused by intoxication is required to order the installation of a device in the motor vehicle of the defendant that makes it impractical for a defendant with breath that has detectable ethyl alcohol to operate that motor vehicle. The bill also prohibits a person from removing an installed device in the motor vehicle of the defendant unless the person holds a written order authorizing the removal issued by the court that ordered the device to be installed. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.