If you are receiving this e-mail newsletter, it is because your name is on a list that was furnished by the Governor's Office as a judge presiding over a DWI, DWI/drug, or drug court.

The Texas Center is proud to announce the upcoming DWI website sponsored by a grant from TxDOT.

Governor Signs House Bill 530 contd.

  • Creates a $50 court fee on a conviction of an intoxication or drug offense to help fund drug courts. This includes all misdemeanor and felony DWI and drug offenses, except for Class C misdemeanors.  Your clerks should already be collecting these fees as part of the court costs of conviction.
  • Counties that operate a drug court or DWI court can keep 50% of funds generated to be used exclusively for the development and maintenance of their programs.
  • Another 10% can be retained by the county as a service fee for collecting and remitting the court costs.
  • Counties that do not have drug courts can keep up to 10% as an administration fee, but must give the other 90% of funds back to the state to be used to fund other DWI/drug courts.  They can, however, set aside a docket as a "drug court" and start keeping the additional 50%.
  • Mandates DWI or drug court programs in counties with populations greater than 200,000.  This mandate lowered the 550,000 population threshold established in the 77th legislative session. This would require 12 additional counties to have drug or DWI courts (six of which already have courts) and increase the number of mandated DWI/drug courts in Texas to 21 counties. 
  • Removes requirement that mandated counties have 100 participants during first four months (counties over 200,000 but less than 550,000).
  • Provides nondisclosure for first-time felony offenders if they successfully complete the program and are not convicted for any other felony crimes for two years afterward.  This nondisclosure order may be entered by the Court sue sponte without the necessity of filing a separate petition and paying a separate civil filing fee.  This was added to the statute to offer an incentive for defendants who participate in a DWI or drug court program to help rehabilitated offenders find employment.
  • Allows counties to establish other types of problem-solving courts, including: juvenile drug courts, re-entry drug courts, family dependency treatment courts, and other court programs.  These drug courts must have the 10 essential characteristics of a drug court (the national model) described by Sec. 469.001 of the Health and Safety Code, but are designed to target other populations that may benefit from the program.
  • There are specific provisions relating to DWI Courts.  The bill provides that a county that establishes a drug court program, and doesn't have a separate DWI Court, must employ procedures designed to ensure that DWI offenders can participate in the existing drug court program.  The bill does not specify how many DWI offenders must be admitted to the program.  Whether a felony DWI offender is admitted to the program is still up to the prosecutor, defendant and judge.
  • Allows the presiding judge to suspend community service requirements, and if the program is successfully completed, the judge can completely excuse the participant from any remaining community service requirements. This can become a huge incentive to the defendant, because the current minimum requirement for a state jail felony is 120 hours of community service, and for a third-degree felony is 160 hours. However, a separate bill (HB 1678) which takes effect September 1, has deleted the requirement for all minimum community service hour provisions in the current law.
  • Simplifies the process of getting an occupational license.  The presiding judge can issue an occupational license without the necessity of having to file a separate civil petition with the attendant court costs.
  • The bill allows all counties to hire criminal law magistrates to perform duties associated with drug court or DWI court proceedings without the necessity of obtaining prior approval from the State. 

Felony DWI Court Receives Praise

Judge Sharen Wilson, who presides over Criminal District Court #1 in Tarrant County recently received praise and favorable press coverage for her newly created felony DWI court. Judge Wilson and her team received the initial training to start their DWI court at the Texas Center for the Judiciary in July, 2006. She began receiving felony DWI offenders into her program several months thereafter. To read the Star-Telegram article, follow this link:

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/181187.html

 

Additional Staff Training Available at The National Judicial College

For a limited time, judges and staff members who want to access additional training for DWI court team members, but do not have the time or funds to travel and schedule the training, now have another option.  The National Judicial College, in cooperation with the National Drug Court Institute, is making available a Web based distance learning course free of charge.  You should note that the training is only available for a limited amount of time, but once the participant has registered, he/she he will have eight weeks to complete the course and receive a Certificate of Completion. Click here for further information.

 

Summaries of Bills in Addition to House Bill 530 Passed by the 80th Legislature

HB 312 – shifts the burden of proof to the state in a revocation proceeding where the sole violation alleged is non-payment of appointed counsel, supervision fees or court costs.

HB 1610 – makes certain state jail offenders eligible for mandatory probation supervision if there is a previous conviction for a state jail felony that was punished as a Class A misdemeanor.

HB 1678 – provides reduced maximum terms of probation supervision of 5 years for certain property and controlled substance crimes, and allows a court to credit time served in a substance abuse treatment facility or other court-ordered treatment facility towards time required to be spent in a state jail.  The bill also requires the court to review the records of certain persons who have served the greater of half their supervision term or two years to consider a reduction or termination of probation, unless the probationer is delinquent in payments of court-ordered costs or has not completed court-ordered treatment or counseling.  Intoxication offenses, registered sex offenders and 3g offenders are excluded.  In addition, courts are authorized to accept credit or debit cards for payments and to charge a fee for processing those payments.

SB 909  - Authorizes judges to permit the early release to intensive supervision for state jail inmates who pose no risk to public safety due to their medical conditions.

Amends the Government Code relating to the hiring of community supervision department directors.

Permits a judge to order a defendant to make a specified donation to a nonprofit food bank or food pantry in lieu of requiring the defendant to work a specified number of hours at a community service project.

Requires probation fees to follow defendants if they are transferred to different court jurisdictions.

HB 1212 - amends the Penal Code by enhancing the penalty from a third degree felony to a second degree felony for the offense of intoxication assault if serious bodily injury occurs to a peace officer, firefighter or emergency medical service personnel while the peace officer, firefighter or emergency medical service personnel is in the actual discharge of an official duty.

Increases the penalty for intoxication manslaughter of an on duty peace officer, firefighter or emergency medical service personnel from a second degree felony sentence to a first degree felony.

HB 3060 - amends Code of Criminal Procedure to provide express statutory authority for district courts and county-level courts to issue a capias pro fine.  Of particular importance is the provision of this bill that requires the court to make a written determination that the defendant is not indigent and has failed to make a good-faith effort to discharge the fines and costs.  Previous to this amendment, the court was only required to conduct a hearing, but not required to make written findings before issuing a capias pro fine.

SB 1723 - amends the Transportation Code and provides the Texas Department of Public Safety with tools to increase collections and payment options for those persons assessed surcharges.  Previous to this amendment, DPS was not authorized to allow someone to pay out the surcharge on an installment plan if the original installment plan was not complied with.  This bill allows the Department to put someone back on the installment plan instead of accelerating the entire balance due.  It also authorizes the Department to establish "incentives" for compliance, including a reduction of the surcharge, and authorizes the Department to create periods of amnesty to encourage payment.

HB 1049 - amends the Transportation Code and adds the offense of manslaughter, in the instances where a motor vehicle was used in the commission of the offense, to the list of offenses that, upon final conviction of the offense, result in the automatic suspension of the person’s driver’s license.

HB 2391 - allows the arresting officer to issue a citation instead of arresting the defendant for most Class A and Class B misdemeanors if the defendant resides in the county where the offense occurs.  This provision may greatly increase the number of defendants which are cited for offenses but not arrested, especially in the counties with overcrowded jails .  The result will be that the defendants make their original appearance in the court of jurisdiction without an appearance bond, and the presiding court will have to institute different procedures to deal with these kinds of cases.

HB 1303 - amends the expunction and nondisclosure statute to allow electronic transmission of orders, and imposes time limits for the various agencies to comply with the court order (Note however, that it does not impose any penalties for failure to comply with the time limits).  It also includes private credit reporting agencies in the list of those who must comply with the order, and requires the private credit reporting agencies to periodically update their reports.

HB 2385 - allows the district or county attorney to charge a fee of up to $500 to help defray the costs of creating and maintaining a pretrial intervention program.

HB 1178 - imposes additional requirements on the court in order for a pro se defendant to waive his/her right to counsel and further restricts the circumstances under which the pro se defendant may communicate directly with the prosecution about his/her case.

HB1204 - allows jurors to specify that a specific portion of their juror compensation may be donated to certain funds.  The current law only allows the juror to donate their entire compensation.

To get the complete text of a bill, as well as the bill analysis, go to the following link:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/BillNumber.aspx