PRINTER'S NO. 3272
No. 2397 Session of 1990
INTRODUCED BY FARGO, NAILOR, GODSHALL, TIGUE, DISTLER, SERAFINI,
DEMPSEY, STABACK, SEMMEL, LEH, CARLSON, JACKSON, CLYMER,
BROUJOS, HECKLER, SAURMAN, G. SNYDER, MOEHLMANN, FOX,
SCHEETZ, MAINE, ARGALL, MERRY, HASAY, CAWLEY, DORR, NOYE,
DeLUCA, JOHNSON, HESS, GEIST, TANGRETTI, FARMER, FAIRCHILD,
NAHILL, BILLOW, LINTON AND J. H. CLARK, MARCH 28, 1990
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MARCH 28, 1990
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of August 6, 1941 (P.L.861, No.323), entitled,
2 as amended, "An act to create a uniform and exclusive system
3 for the administration of parole in this Commonwealth;
4 providing state probation services; establishing the
5 'Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole'; conferring and
6 defining its jurisdiction, duties, powers and functions;
7 including the supervision of persons placed upon probation
8 and parole in certain designated cases; providing for the
9 method of appointment of its members; regulating the
10 appointment, removal and discharge of its officers, clerks
11 and employes; dividing the Commonwealth into administrative
12 districts for purposes of probation and parole; fixing the
13 salaries of members of the board and of certain other
14 officers and employes thereof; making violations of certain
15 provisions of this act misdemeanors; providing penalties
16 therefor; and for other cognate purposes, and making an
17 appropriation," providing for the cost of drug screening
18 tests.
19 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
20 hereby enacts as follows:
21 Section 1. Section 16.2(a) of the act of August 6, 1941
22 (P.L.861, No.323), referred to as the Pennsylvania Board of
23 Probation and Parole Law, is amended by adding a clause to read:
24 Section 16.2. (a) The board shall have the power and its
1 duty shall be:
2 * * *
3 (9) To pay the cost of pre-parole drug screening tests
4 required under section 21.
5 * * *
6 Section 2. Section 21 of the act, amended December 22, 1989
7 (P.L.724, No.97), is amended to read:
8 Section 21. The board is hereby authorized to release on
9 parole any convict confined in any penal institution of this
10 Commonwealth as to whom power to parole is herein granted to
11 said board, except convicts condemned to death or serving life
12 imprisonment, whenever in its opinion the best interests of the
13 convict justify or require his being paroled and it does not
14 appear that the interests of the Commonwealth will be injured
15 thereby. The power to parole herein granted to the Board of
16 Parole may not be exercised in the board's discretion at any
17 time before, but only after, the expiration of the minimum term
18 of imprisonment fixed by the court in its sentence or by the
19 Pardon Board in a sentence which has been reduced by
20 commutation: Provided, however, That if the Board of Parole
21 refuse to parole the prisoner at the expiration of any minimum
22 term fixed by the Pardon Board, it shall, within ten days after
23 the date when the minimum term expired, transmit to the Pardon
24 Board a written statement of the reasons for refusal to parole
25 the prisoner at the expiration of the minimum term fixed by the
26 Pardon Board. Thereafter, the Pardon Board may either accept the
27 action of the Board of Parole, or order the immediate release of
28 the prisoner on parole, under the supervision of the Board of
29 Parole. The board may not release a person on parole unless the
30 person achieves a negative result within one week prior to the
19900H2397B3272 - 2 -
1 date of release in a screening test approved by the Department
2 of Health for the detection of the presence of controlled
3 substances or designer drugs under the act of April 14, 1972
4 (P.L.233, No.64), known as "The Controlled Substance, Drug,
5 Device and Cosmetic Act." The cost of the screening test shall
6 be paid by the board. The board shall establish, as a condition
7 of continued parole for a parolee who, as an inmate, tested
8 positive for the presence of a controlled substance or a
9 designer drug or who was paroled from a sentence arising from a
10 conviction under "The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and
11 Cosmetic Act," or from a drug-related crime, the parolee's
12 achievement of negative results in such screening tests randomly
13 applied. The random screening tests shall be performed at the
14 discretion of the board, and the parolee undergoing the tests
15 shall be responsible for the costs of the tests. The funds
16 collected for the tests shall be applied against the contract
17 for such testing between the board and a testing laboratory
18 approved by the Department of Health. Said board shall have the
19 power during the period for which a person shall have been
20 sentenced to recommit one paroled for violation of the terms and
21 conditions of his parole and from time to time to reparole and
22 recommit in the same manner and with the same procedure as in
23 the case of an original parole or recommitment, if, in the
24 judgment of the said board, there is a reasonable probability
25 that the convict will be benefited by again according him
26 liberty and it does not appear that the interests of the
27 Commonwealth will be injured thereby.
28 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
C13L44WMB/19900H2397B3272 - 3 -