S.B. No. 2340
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to electronic monitoring and other alternative means for
  certain defendants to discharge a fine or costs or satisfy a term of
  confinement in county jail.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Article 42.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection
  (e) to read as follows:
         (a)  A court [in a county served by a community supervision
  and corrections department that has an electronic monitoring
  program approved by the community justice assistance division of
  the Texas Department of Criminal Justice] may require a defendant
  to serve all or part of a sentence of confinement in county jail by
  participating in an [submitting to] electronic monitoring program
  rather than being confined in the county jail, if the program:
               (1)  is operated by a community supervision and
  corrections department that serves the county in which the court is
  located and has been approved by the community justice assistance
  division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; or
               (2)  is operated by the commissioners court of the
  county, or by a private vendor under contract with the
  commissioners court, under Section 351.904, Local Government Code,
  if the defendant has not been placed on community supervision.
         (d)  A defendant who submits to electronic monitoring or
  participates in the house arrest program under this article
  [section] discharges a sentence of confinement in the same manner
  as if the defendant were confined in county jail [without
  deductions, good conduct time credits, or commutations].
         (e)  A court may revoke a defendant's participation in an
  electronic monitoring program and require the defendant to serve
  the remainder of the defendant's sentence of confinement in county
  jail if the defendant violates a condition imposed by a court under
  this article, including a condition requiring the defendant to pay
  for participating in the program under Subsection (c).
         SECTION 2.  Subsection (e), Article 43.09, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
         (e)  A court in a county that operates an electronic
  monitoring program or contracts with a private vendor to operate an
  electronic monitoring program under Section 351.904, Local
  Government Code, or that is served by a community supervision and
  corrections department that operates [has] an electronic
  monitoring program approved by the community justice assistance
  division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, may require a
  defendant who is unable to pay a fine or costs to discharge all or
  part of the fine or costs by participating in the program
  [submitting to electronic monitoring]. A defendant who
  participates in an [that submits to] electronic monitoring program
  under this subsection discharges fines and costs in the same manner
  as if the defendant were confined in county jail.
         SECTION 3.  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 a 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 defendant [party so
  convicted] is unable to pay the fine and costs adjudged against the
  defendant [him], or where the defendant [party] is sentenced to
  jail for a felony or is confined in jail after conviction of a
  felony, the defendant [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
  defendants under this article [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 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. They may also be put to labor providing
  maintenance and related services to a nonprofit organization that
  qualifies for a tax exemption under Section 501(a), Internal
  Revenue Code of 1986, as an organization described by Section
  501(c)(3) of that code, and is organized as a nonprofit corporation
  under the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act (Article 1396-1.01 et
  seq., Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), provided that, at the
  sheriff's request, the commissioners court determines that the
  nonprofit organization provides a public service to the county or
  to a political subdivision located in whole or in part in the
  county;
               5.  A defendant [One] who from age, disease, or other
  physical or mental disability is unable to do manual labor shall not
  be required to work. The defendant's [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 the defendant [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 4.  Article 43.101, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection
  (d) to read as follows:
         (a)  A defendant who is confined in county jail before
  [awaiting] trial, after conviction of a misdemeanor, or [a
  defendant confined in county jail] after conviction of a felony or
  revocation of community supervision, parole, or mandatory
  supervision and awaiting transfer to the [institutional division of
  the] Texas Department of Criminal Justice may volunteer to
  participate in any work program operated by the sheriff that uses
  the labor of convicted defendants.
         (b)  The sheriff may accept a defendant as a volunteer under
  Subsection (a) [of this section] if the defendant is not awaiting
  trial for an offense involving violence or is not awaiting transfer
  to the [institutional division of the] Texas Department of Criminal
  Justice after conviction of a felony involving violence, and if the
  sheriff determines that the inmate has not engaged previously in
  violent conduct and does not pose a security risk to the general
  public if allowed to participate in the work program.
         (d)  For each day of volunteer work, in addition to any other
  credits allowed by law, the court or sheriff may deduct one day from
  each sentence imposed on the defendant in relation to the offense or
  violation of the terms of release for which the defendant was
  confined in county jail.
         SECTION 5.  Subsection (b), Article 44.041, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
         (b)  A court that releases a defendant under this article
  must require the defendant to participate in a program under
  Article 42.033, 42.034, 42.035, or 42.036 [of this code] during the
  pendency of the appeal. A [The] defendant required to participate
  in a program may [not] receive credit toward completion of the
  defendant's sentence while participating in the [a] program in the
  same manner and to the same extent provided by Article 42.033,
  42.034, 42.035, or 42.036, as applicable [required by this
  subsection].
         SECTION 6.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 351, Local Government
  Code, is amended by adding Section 351.904 to read as follows:
         Sec. 351.904.  ELECTRONIC MONITORING PROGRAM. (a)  A
  commissioners court of a county may establish and operate an
  electronic monitoring program for the purpose of monitoring
  defendants required by a court of the county to participate in an
  electronic monitoring program under:
               (1)  Article 43.09, Code of Criminal Procedure, to
  discharge a fine or costs; or
               (2)  Article 42.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, as an
  alternative to serving all or part of a sentence of confinement in
  county jail.
         (b)  The commissioners court shall provide for the sheriff or
  the community supervision and corrections department serving the
  county, under an agreement with the commissioners court, to oversee
  and operate, or, if the program is operated by a private vendor
  under Subsection (c), oversee the operation of, an electronic
  monitoring program established under this section.
         (c)  A commissioners court may contract with a private vendor
  to operate an electronic monitoring program under this section,
  including by enrolling and tracking participants in the program and
  performing periodic reviews with participants regarding compliance
  with the program.
         (d)  A commissioners court may use money that a defendant is
  ordered to pay to a county under Article 42.035(c), Code of Criminal
  Procedure, to pay for the services of a private vendor that operates
  an electronic monitoring program under Subsection (c).
         (e)  A commissioners court may subsidize all or part of the
  cost of a defendant's participation in an electronic monitoring
  program under this section if the defendant is indigent.
         (f)  A commissioners court may contract for any available
  electronic monitoring technology, including a technology that
  provides continuous positional tracking of the participant, that
  meets the approval of the commissioners court and either the
  sheriff or the community supervision and corrections department, as
  appropriate.
         SECTION 7.  Section 6, Article 42.032, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, is repealed.
         SECTION 8.  Subsection (e), Article 42.035, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, as added by this Act, applies only to a defendant who is
  sentenced to a term of confinement in county jail for an offense
  committed on or after September 1, 2009. A defendant who is
  sentenced to a term of confinement in county jail for an offense
  committed before September 1, 2009, is governed by the law in effect
  when the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in
  effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, an offense
  was committed before September 1, 2009, if any element of the
  offense occurred before that date.
         SECTION 9.  The changes in law made by this Act in amending
  Article 43.10 and Subsection (b), Article 44.041, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, and in repealing Section 6, Article 42.032, Code of
  Criminal Procedure, apply only to credit that is earned by a
  defendant as a result of participation in a program or work
  performed on or after the effective date of this Act. The accrual
  of credit by a defendant as a result of participation in a program
  or work performed before the effective date of this Act is governed
  by the law in effect when the participation occurred or work was
  performed, and the former law remains in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 10.  This Act takes effect immediately if it
  receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
  house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
  If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
  effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
 
 
 
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2340 passed the Senate on
  May 7, 2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 1.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate    
 
         I hereby certify that S.B. No. 2340 passed the House on
  May 27, 2009, by the following vote:  Yeas 148, Nays 0, one
  present not voting.
 
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
 
 
  Approved:
 
  ______________________________ 
              Date
 
 
  ______________________________ 
            Governor