This bill makes various changes and additions to present law concerning incarceration, as follows:
(1) Under present law, violent offenders are ineligible to participate in a drug court treatment program. A person convicted of any offense in which force was used against the person of another is a violent offender. This bill changes the definition of "violent offender" so that a person convicted of a misdemeanor offense, other than domestic assault, that involved the use of force against the person of another, but that did not involve a firearm or dangerous weapon, or result in death or serious bodily injury, will be eligible to participate in a drug court treatment program;
(2) Present law imposes a minimum sentence of 30-days incarceration for a person convicted of simple possession or casual exchange of methamphetamine. The person may participate in a drug or recovery court that is certified by the department of mental health and substance abuse services and receive sentence credit for up to the full 30-day minimum sentence requirement. This bill adds that any such offender may also participate in, and receive sentence credit for, participation in a licensed treatment program other than a certified drug or recovery court. This bill also establishes a requirement that for any such offender with clinical assessment results indicating the need to participate in a drug or recovery court or treatment program, the court strongly consider ordering service of the sentence through participation in a drug or recovery court or licensed treatment program instead of through confinement, unless the person is not suitable for, or otherwise ineligible to participate in, such a court or program;
(3) This bill adds a requirement to present law that, when a magistrate orders a person released on recognizance or unsecured bond pending trial, then the magistrate must impose the least restrictive conditions of release that will reasonably ensure the person's appearance and the safety of the community;
(4) This bill revises the criteria that a magistrate must consider when deciding whether to order a person released on recognizance or unsecured bond pending trial. Most significantly, this bill adds a requirement that the magistrate consider any available results of an evidence-based pretrial risk assessment conducted regarding the defendant for use in the jurisdiction and the defendant's financial resources;
(5) This bill requires that a person charged only for driving on a revoked or suspended license whose driving privilege was suspended or revoked solely because of a failure to pay litigation taxes, court costs, or fines, and who does not have a prior conviction for failure to appear within the previous 10 years, must be ordered released pending trial on the person's personal recognizance or an unsecured appearance bond;
(6) This bill authorizes judges to order a defendant who is eligible for a sentencing alternative to participate in a day reporting center program in lieu of incarceration. This bill defines "day reporting center" to mean a highly structured, non-residential, and phase-based program that combines supervision, treatment, and reentry services for moderate to high-risk offenders with a substance abuse issue or co-occurring mental health issue;
(7) This bill requires courts to strongly consider sentencing alternatives for persons with behavioral health needs or chemical dependence;
(8) This bill requires that all sentences to a community-based alternative to incarceration in imposed prior to October 1, 2021, be supervised by the department of correction. The court retains the authority to alter the sentence, place the offender on probation, or revoke the sentence;
(9) This bill replaces the Tennessee Community Corrections Act of 1985. Significantly, this bill removes the requirement for local community corrections advisory boards and authorizes the department of correction to contract with entities and organizations, including local governments, to create or operate community-based alternatives to incarceration for offenders sentenced to probation. This bill removes certain financial oversight requirements concerning community corrections funding recipients from the comptroller's office and gives the department the authority to evaluate and promulgate rules for contractors who provide community-based alternatives to incarceration. This bill deletes the $15.00 monthly community corrections supervision fee that is imposed on offenders serving a sentence under the supervision of a community corrections grantee;
(10) This bill specifies that a court may include in the terms for an offender's supervised probation participation in a day reporting center program, recovery and treatment program, or another appropriate community-based program;
(11) This bill specifies that a court may resentence a person to probation, including participation in a community-based alternative to incarceration when the person's suspension of a sentence or probation is revoked;
(12) This bill caps the duration of a sentence to probation at eight years for a felony offense, including cases where a period of probation is imposed after a period of confinement and the period of probation and period of confinement in total exceed eight years. If the court imposes a period of probation for more than one conviction, then the total period of probation is capped at 10 years;
(13) Under present law, at the conclusion of a probation revocation hearing, the court may extend a defendant's period of probation supervision for any period not in excess of two years. This bill limits the time that probation may be extended to one year per each determination of a probation violation and specifies findings that a court must make to support any such extension;
(14) This bill authorizes a judge who reinstates a suspended sentence to reduce the original judgment by the amount of time the defendant has successfully served on probation and suspension of sentence prior to the violation or a portion of that amount of time;
(15) This bill prohibits a judge from revoking probation based upon one instance of technical violation or violations. For purposes of this bill, "technical violation" means an act that violates the terms or conditions of probation but does not constitute a new felony, new Class A misdemeanor, or absconding; and
(16) This bill limits the duration of incarceration that a judge may impose for a technical violation of probation to: up to 15 days for the first revocation; up to 30 days for the second revocation; up to 90 days for the third revocation; or one year or the remainder of the sentence, whichever is shorter, for a fourth or subsequent revocation. These limits do not prohibit a judge from resentencing a defendant who commits a technical violation of probation to a sentence of probation that includes the condition of participating in a community-based alternative to incarceration.
The provisions of this bill described in (2)-(5) of this Bill Summary take effect July 1, 2021. The provisions of this bill described in (6)-(11) of this Bill Summary take effect October 1, 2021. All remaining provisions of this bill take effect upon becoming a law.
ON APRIL 22, 2021, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #1 AND #2 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 784, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #1 makes the following changes to this bill and present law:
(1) Clarifies that a determination that a person is not suitable or eligible to participate in a drug or recovery court or licensed treatment program, as described in (2) of the Bill Summary, is a determination for the court to make;
(2) Deletes the provisions described in (8) of the Bill Summary;
(3) Authorizes the department of correction to contract with entities and organizations, including local governments, to create or operate community-based alternatives to incarceration for offenders sentenced to probation similar to the provisions of this bill described in (9) of the Bill Summary, except this amendment revises (rather than replaces) the Tennessee Community Corrections Act of 1985, thereby retaining financial oversight requirements concerning community corrections funding recipients from the comptroller's office and the supervision fee;
(4) Adds to the eligibility requirements for punishment under the Tennessee Community Corrections Act of 1985 that the offender is not a sexual offender or violent sexual offender;
(5) Removes, as a goal of the Tennessee Community Corrections Act of 1985, filling gaps in the local correctional system through the development of a range of sanctions and services available for the judge at sentencing;
(6) Replaces authorization for the department of correction to evaluate funding recipients under the Tennessee Community Corrections Act of 1985, annually or as often as needed, to ensure accountability and to measure the efficiency of the community-based alternatives to incarceration conducted under the Act. This amendment requires contractors to participate in the evaluations;
(7) Clarifies that the eight-year limit on a sentence to probation described in (12) of the Bill Summary applies when the court imposes a period of probation for only one conviction, including instances where a period of probation is imposed after a period of confinement; and
(8) Revises the provisions described in (16) of the Bill Summary by authorizing the judge to impose the remainder of the sentence (instead of one year) for a fourth or subsequent technical violation of probation.
This amendment makes all provisions of this bill effective July 1, 2021.
AMENDMENT #2 changes the provisions described in (4) of the Bill Summary to require that a magistrate consider any available results of a "validated" (rather than "evidence-based") pretrial risk assessment conducted regarding the defendant for use in the jurisdiction and the defendant's financial resources when determining whether or not to release a defendant.
This amendment adds to the provisions described in (15) and (16) of the Bill Summary by specifying that a zero tolerance violation as defined by the department of correction community supervision sanction matrix is not a "technical violation" and that a judge may revoke a defendant's probation and suspension of sentence for the commission of one zero tolerance violation.

Statutes affected:
Current Version: 16-22-103, 16-22-103(4)(A), 39-17-418(c)(2)(B)(i), 39-17-418, 39-17-418(c)(2)(B)(ii), 39-17-418(c)(2)(B), 40-11-115(a), 40-11-115, 40-35-104, 8-4-115(i)(1)(O), 8-4-115, 39-13-523(a)(7)(A), 39-13-523, 39-13-704(a), 39-13-704, 39-13-706(a), 39-13-706, 39-17-308(b)(1), 39-17-308, 39-17-1324(e)(2), 39-17-1324, 39-17-1324(i)(3)(A), 39-17-1350, 39-17-1363(b), 39-17-1363, 40-9-124, 40-11-130(b)(1), 40-11-130, 40-11-130(b)(2), 40-28-610(h), 40-28-610, 40-29-106(a), 40-29-106, 40-35-114, 40-35-120(e)(2), 40-35-120, 40-35-122(a), 40-35-122, 40-35-207(a)(9), 40-35-207, 40-35-209, 40-35-303(a), 40-35-303, 40-35-303(d), 40-35-310(b), 40-35-310, 40-35-321(b), 40-35-321, 40-35-321(d)(1), 40-35-501(a)(7)(B)(ii), 40-35-501, 40-35-501(k)(4)(A), 40-35-501(u)(3)(B)(i), 40-35-501(w), 40-35-503(h), 40-35-503, 40-39-207(g)(2)(C)(i), 40-39-207, 41-1-126(b), 41-1-126, 41-1-126(c), 40-35-303(c)(1), 40-35-308, 40-35-311(d), 40-35-311