S.B. No. 951




AN ACT
relating to the operation of certain cemeteries using county resources. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (c), Section 713.028, Health and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows: (a) For purposes of historical preservation or public health, safety, or welfare, a commissioners court may use public funds, county employees, county inmate labor as provided by Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, and county equipment to maintain a cemetery that has a grave marker more than 50 years old. (c) At the discretion of the commissioners court, a county may permit the use of public funds, county employees, county inmate labor as provided by Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, and county equipment to open and close graves in a cemetery described by Subsection (a) [Maintenance of a cemetery under Subsection (a) includes any activity necessary for the continued operation of the cemetery, including the opening and closing of graves. This subsection applies only to a county with a population of 40,000 or less]. SECTION 2. Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows: Art. 43.10. MANUAL LABOR. Where the punishment assessed in a conviction for misdemeanor is confinement in jail for more than one day, or where in such conviction the punishment is assessed only at a pecuniary fine and the party so convicted is unable to pay the fine and costs adjudged against him, or where the party is sentenced to jail for a felony or is confined in jail after conviction of a felony, the party convicted shall be required to work in the county jail industries program or shall be required to do manual labor in accordance with the provisions of this article under the following rules and regulations: 1. Each commissioners court may provide for the erection of a workhouse and the establishment of a county farm in connection therewith for the purpose of utilizing the labor of said parties so convicted; 2. Such farms and workhouses shall be under the control and management of the sheriff, and the sheriff may adopt such rules and regulations not inconsistent with the rules and regulations of the Commission on Jail Standards and with the laws as the sheriff deems necessary; 3. Such overseers and guards may be employed by the sheriff under the authority of the commissioners court as may be necessary to prevent escapes and to enforce such labor, and they shall be paid out of the county treasury such compensation as the commissioners court may prescribe; 4. They shall be put to labor upon public works and maintenance projects, including public works and maintenance projects for a political subdivision located in whole or in part in the county. They may also be put to labor upon maintenance projects for a cemetery that the commissioners court uses public funds, county employees, or county equipment to maintain under Section 713.028, Health and Safety Code; 5. One who from age, disease, or other physical or mental disability is unable to do manual labor shall not be required to work. His inability to do manual labor may be determined by a physician appointed for that purpose by the county judge or the commissioners court, who shall be paid for such service such compensation as said court may allow; and 6. For each day of manual labor, in addition to any other credits allowed by law, a defendant is entitled to have one day deducted from each sentence he is serving. The deduction authorized by this article, when combined with the deduction required by Article 42.10 of this code, may not exceed two-thirds (2/3) of the sentence. SECTION 3. The change in law made by Section 2 of this Act applies to a person who is convicted of an offense with respect to which Article 43.10, Code of Criminal Procedure, applies, regardless of whether the conviction occurs before, on, or after the effective date of this Act. SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________ President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 951 passed the Senate on May 12, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. ______________________________ Secretary of the Senate I hereby certify that S.B. No. 951 passed the House on May 25, 2005, by a non-record vote. ______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House Approved: ______________________________ Date ______________________________ Governor