HB 1256

ON APRIL 14, 2025, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1256, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, revise provisions of present law relative to placing certain defendants on a fugitives list for failure to appear to, instead, provide the following:  If a court issues a bench warrant or a capias due to a defendant's failure to appear on a felony or on a Class A or Class B misdemeanor that is violent or sexual in nature as determined by the court, or if a defendant is charged with a failure to appear, then the defendant must be placed on any available state or federal list or database as a fugitive from justice, including the National Crime Information Center.  If necessary, the judicial official must sign the bench warrant or capias by the end of business on the day of the defendant's failure to appear. The clerk must transmit the bench warrant or capias to the entering agency by the end of the next business day after issuance . The entering agency must enter the bench warrant or capias into any available state or federal list or database, including the National Crime Information Center.  A surety is not liable for any undertaking if the defendant has not been placed on the available state or federal list or database within three business days of the entering agency's receipt of the bench warrant or capias.  If the defendant is apprehended outside the state by a law enforcement agency in a jurisdiction that is outside the limitation entered into the state or federal list or database, then the district attorney general must determine, within one business day of being notified of the apprehension, whether to initiate extradition proceedings for the defendant's return.