Bill Text: TX SB1746 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Relating to a prohibition on requiring a defendant to enter a plea of guilty or nolo contendere as a condition of entering certain pretrial intervention programs.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-24 - Referred to Criminal Justice [SB1746 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-SB1746-Introduced.html

---

84R13604 GCB-D
By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 1746

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a prohibition on requiring a defendant to enter a plea
of guilty or nolo contendere as a condition of entering certain
pretrial intervention programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 76.011(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, a
program [programs] operated by the department under Subsection (a)
may include reasonable conditions related to the purpose of the
program, including testing for controlled substances. A program
operated by the department under Subsection (a) may not include a
condition that a defendant enter a plea of guilty or nolo contendere
to participate in the program. If this subsection conflicts with a
more specific provision of another law, the other law prevails.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
condition for participation in a pretrial intervention program
imposed on or after the effective date of this Act. A condition for
participation in a pretrial intervention program imposed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed on
the date the condition was imposed, and the former law is continued
in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.