H.B. No. 1681




AN ACT
relating to the imposition of sanctions on an inmate who refuses to cooperate in the taking of a sample or specimen to create a DNA record. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 411.148, Government Code, as amended by Chapters 211 and 1509, Acts of the 77th Legislature, 2001, is reenacted and amended to read as follows: Sec. 411.148. DNA RECORDS OF CERTAIN INMATES. (a) An inmate serving a sentence for a felony in the institutional division shall provide one or more blood samples or other specimens for the purpose of creating a DNA record. (b) The institutional division shall obtain the sample or specimen from an inmate of the division during the diagnostic process. The institutional division shall obtain the sample or specimen from an inmate confined in another penal institution as soon as practicable if the Board of Pardons and Paroles informs the division that the inmate is likely to be paroled before being admitted to the division. The administrator of the other penal institution shall cooperate with the institutional division as necessary to allow the institutional division to perform its duties under this section. (c) The institutional division shall: (1) preserve each blood sample or other specimen collected; (2) maintain a record of the collection of the sample or specimen; and (3) send the sample or specimen to the director for scientific analysis under this subchapter. (d) An inmate may not be held past the inmate's [a] statutory release date if the inmate fails or refuses to provide a blood sample or other specimen under this section. A penal institution may take [other] lawful administrative action, including disciplinary action resulting in the loss of good conduct time, against an [the] inmate who refuses to provide a blood sample or other specimen under this section. (e) The institutional division shall notify the director that an inmate described by Subsection (a) is to be released from the institutional division not earlier than the 120th day before the inmate's statutory release date and not later than the 90th day before the inmate's statutory release date. In Subsection (d) and this subsection, "statutory release date" means the date on which an inmate is discharged from the inmate's controlling sentence. (f) A medical staff employee of the institutional division may obtain a voluntary sample or specimen from any inmate. (g) An employee of the institutional division may use force against an inmate required to provide a sample under this section when and to the degree the employee reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to obtain the sample or specimen. (h) The Texas Department of Criminal Justice may contract with an individual or entity for the provision of phlebotomy services under this section. (i) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), if at the beginning of a fiscal year the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice determines that sufficient funds have not been appropriated to the department to obtain a sample from each inmate otherwise required to provide a sample under Subsection (a), the executive director shall direct the institutional division to give priority to obtaining samples from inmates ordered by a court to give the sample or specimen or serving sentences for: (1) an offense: (A) under Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder), or Section 22.02, Penal Code (aggravated assault); (B) under Section 30.02, Penal Code (burglary), if the offense is punishable under Subsection (c)(2) or (d) of that section; or (C) for which the inmate is required to register as a sex offender under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure; or (2) any offense if the inmate has previously been convicted of or adjudicated as having engaged in: (A) an offense described in Subdivision (1); or (B) an offense under federal law or laws of another state that involves the same conduct as an offense described by Subdivision (1). SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005. ______________________________ ______________________________ President of the Senate Speaker of the House I certify that H.B. No. 1681 was passed by the House on April 14, 2005, by a non-record vote. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House I certify that H.B. No. 1681 was passed by the Senate on May 25, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. ______________________________ Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: _____________________ Date _____________________ Governor