HBA-EDN H.B. 1541 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1541
By: Luna, Vilma
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/1/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a judge may require as a condition of community
supervision that a defendant complete a specified number of community
service hours.  However, there are legitimate difficulties a defendant can
encounter in trying to complete the required community service hours.  Some
defendants, particularly those who live in rural areas, find it difficult
to find opportunities to perform their hours.  Others may have work or
educational conflicts, medical restrictions, or problems obtaining child
care while completing their hours. There may be an alternative through
which defendants could fulfill part of their community service requirement
without actually completing the specified number of hours, such as offering
a donation to a charitable organization.  House Bill 1541 authorizes a
judge to permit a defendant to substitute a charitable contribution for up
to half of the defendant's required community service hours. 

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. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1541 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to authorize a judge
to permit a defendant to substitute for community service one payment, not
to exceed $20, to a nonprofit or governmental program that includes as
participants or recipients persons who are younger than 17 years of age and
that regularly provides athletic, civic, cultural, or educational activity.
The bill provides that the defendant is entitled to one hour's credit
against required community service hours for each dollar contributed,
except that a defendant is prohibited from receiving credit from more than
one-half of the hours of required community service.  The bill requires the
judge to admonish the defendant that a payment under these provisions is
not a charitable contribution for the purposes of federal tax law. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.