Sec. 75.601. ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE PROGRAM FOR PARTICIPATING COUNTIES. (a) The Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System shall develop and make available to each county a court reminder program that allows the county to send a text message to notify criminal defendants of scheduled court appearances. The purposes of the program must include:
(1) reducing costs associated with defendants who fail to appear for a scheduled court appearance;
(2) improving the efficiency of courts in this state;
(3) reminding criminal defendants to appear at each scheduled court appearance; and
(4) reducing the number of criminal defendants who are confined in a county jail due solely to the defendant's failure to appear for a scheduled court appearance.
(b) The program must:
(1) be available to each county at no cost;
(2) comply with applicable state and federal laws requiring the consent of an individual before sending a reminder by text message;
(3) provide text message reminders for each court appearance of a defendant who has access to a device with the technological capability of receiving text messages and provides the court administrator with an operational phone number for the device;
(4) document each occurrence of a criminal defendant receiving a text message reminder;
(5) identify criminal defendants with scheduled court appearances who lack access to devices with the technological capability of receiving text messages;
(6) document the number of criminal defendants who fail to appear at scheduled court appearances after being sent one or more text message reminders;
(7) include the technological capability, at the discretion of the local administrative judge, to provide additional information to criminal defendants concerning scheduled court appearances, such as the location of the court appearance, available transportation options, and procedures for defendants who are unable to attend court appearances;
(8) support partnerships with local law enforcement agencies, local governments, and local public defenders in accordance with the purposes described by Subsection (a); and
(9) provide one or more publicly available Internet websites through which criminal defendants may request text reminders.
Added by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 736 (H.B. 4293), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2021.