HBA-JRA H.B. 397 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 397 By: Naishtat Corrections 2/10/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (board), when deliberating a capital clemency case, is not required to meet or give reasons for its actions. H.B. 397 requires the board to hold a public hearing after a clemency request, to then conduct a closed meeting to consider commutation, and to make public its determination and reasons for that determination. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 48, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Article 48.041, as follows: Art. 48.041. PROCEDURE FOR COMMUTING SENTENCE OF DEATH. Requires the Board of Pardons and Paroles (board) to hold a public hearing when a request that the board recommend to the governor that a death sentence be commuted to a sentence of imprisonment is made by the condemned person, the condemned person's representative, or a majority of the trial officials of the convicting court. Requires the board, after the public hearing, to conduct a closed meeting under Chapter 551, Government Code (Open Meetings) in a single physical location. Requires the board to keep and make available to the public a record of the board's determination on whether to make that recommendation and its reason for that determination. Entitles an inmate and an inmate's counsel to attend the public hearing. Entitles any person, including the inmate, to testify at the hearing. SECTION 2. Amends Section 551.124, Government Code, to prohibit the board from holding a clemency hearing by telephone conference call in a capital case. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.