Bill Text: TX SB875 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
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 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-01 - Referred to Criminal Justice [SB875 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB875-Introduced.html
| 88R3156 CJD-F | ||
| By: West | S.B. No. 875 | |
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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 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. | ||
