Bill Text: TX HB2043 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
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-Comm_Sub.html
88R22909 CJD-F | |||
By: Bowers, et al. | H.B. No. 2043 | ||
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2043: | |||
By: Moody | C.S.H.B. No. 2043 |
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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 residence provided at | ||
arrest; | ||
(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; | ||
(G) whether the defendant was denied bail; and | ||
(H) whether the defendant remained in jail after | ||
bail was set; | ||
(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; | ||
(12) whether the defendant's release on bail was | ||
revoked due to a violation of a condition of release; | ||
(13) whether the defendant was arrested for committing | ||
an offense while released on bail or community supervision in the | ||
same county as the previous offense; | ||
(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. (a) Each law | ||
enforcement agency in this state shall collect the information | ||
described by Section 72.201(b) and, not later than the fifth day of | ||
each month, submit the information to the clerk of the court in | ||
which the applicable case is pending. | ||
(b) Not later than the 10th 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. | ||
(c) In submitting the information, the law enforcement | ||
agency and 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 law enforcement agency or court is not required | ||
to submit information 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. |