Bill Text: TX HB2043 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relating to a criminal justice system pretrial and sentencing database established by the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-05-10 - Postponed 7/22/23 10:00 AM [HB2043 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB2043-Introduced.html

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88R3156 CJD-F
By: Bowers H.B. No. 2043

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a criminal justice system pretrial and sentencing
database established by the Office of Court Administration of the
Texas Judicial System.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 72, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subchapter H to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER H. CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM PRETRIAL AND SENTENCING
DATABASE
Sec. 72.201. DATABASE. (a) The office shall establish and
maintain a database to collect, compile, and analyze pretrial and
sentencing information for each defendant arrested for an offense
in this state.
(b) The office shall include in the database the following
information for each defendant, as applicable:
(1) the cause number of the case;
(2) the court in which the case is pending;
(3) the defendant's:
(A) date of birth;
(B) race, ethnicity, and sex;
(C) primary language; and
(D) zip code and county of primary residence;
(4) the offense for which the defendant was arrested,
including the date the offense was committed and the punishment
classification level;
(5) the date and county of arrest;
(6) the date and time the person was taken to jail
after arrest;
(7) whether the defendant was determined to be
indigent for purposes of appointment of counsel under Article
26.04, Code of Criminal Procedure;
(8) information regarding bail in the case, including:
(A) the date bail was set;
(B) the name and position of the person setting
bail;
(C) the type of bail and, for a monetary bail
bond, the amount of bail;
(D) the date of the defendant's release on bail;
(E) whether the defendant filed an affidavit
under Article 17.028(f), Code of Criminal Procedure;
(F) any conditions of release on bail; and
(G) whether the defendant was denied bail or was
unable to give bail in the amount set by the court;
(9) the length of pretrial confinement;
(10) any modification of the conditions of release on
bail after the defendant's release;
(11) whether the defendant failed to appear for a
scheduled court appearance and, if known, the reason for the
failure;
(12) whether the defendant violated a release
condition and, if so, a description of the violation;
(13) whether the defendant was arrested for committing
an offense while released on bail or community supervision;
(14) the disposition of the case, including the
sentence imposed;
(15) the date the defendant's sentence commenced; and
(16) any credit for time served.
(c) Information in the database is public information and
subject to disclosure under Chapter 552.
Sec. 72.202. SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION BY COURTS. (a) Not
later than the fifth day of each month, the clerk of each court in
this state with criminal jurisdiction shall submit to the office,
on a form prescribed by the office, the information described by
Section 72.201(b) with respect to defendants arrested for offenses
in the preceding month.
(b) In submitting the information under Subsection (a), the
clerk shall include any updated or additional information with
respect to each defendant for whom information has already been
reported.
Sec. 72.203. PUBLISHED INFORMATION. (a) Except as
provided by Subsection (d), the office shall publish deidentified
pretrial and sentencing data from the database on the office's
Internet website in a modern, open, electronic format that is
machine-readable and readily accessible by the public free of
charge. The office shall update the information on the Internet
website on an annual basis.
(b) The published data must be searchable by each item of
information described by Section 72.201(b).
(c) The data published on the office's Internet website may
not disclose the name or identifying information of a defendant.
(d) The office may not publish data at the offense level for
any offense for which there are fewer than five arrests during a
year.
Sec. 72.204. RULES. The office may adopt rules as necessary
to implement this subchapter.
SECTION 2. As soon as practicable after the effective date
of this Act, the Office of Court Administration of the Texas
Judicial System shall establish the database described by Section
72.201, Government Code, as added by this Act.
SECTION 3. A court is not required to submit information to
the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System
under Section 72.202, Government Code, as added by this Act, with
respect to any defendant arrested before the effective date of this
Act.
SECTION 4. The Office of Court Administration of the Texas
Judicial System shall begin publishing pretrial and sentencing data
under Section 72.203, Government Code, as added by this Act, not
later than January 1, 2024.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.