Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 909	Senate Author:  Whitmire
Effective:  6-15-07	House Sponsor:  Madden et al.

            Senate Bill 909 amends provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Government Code, Health and Safety Code, Human Resources Code, Occupations Code, and Transportation Code relating to the continuation and functions of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee (CMHCC), and to the functions of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.  In addition to across-the-board sunset provisions, the bill provides that the board, the department, and CMHCC are to be continued until September 1, 2011.  The bill defines what constitutes compliance with recommendations made by the Sunset Advisory Commission for the department, CMHCC, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB), and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTU).

            Senate Bill 909 establishes the six-member Criminal Justice Legislative Oversight Committee to provide objective research, analysis, and recommendations to help guide state criminal justice policy.

            Senate Bill 909 requires the department to:

• adopt a zero-tolerance policy concerning the detection, prevention, and punishment of sexual abuse, including consensual sexual contact, of inmates and establish procedures for reporting such abuse
• establish a screening and education program in its facilities relating to fetal alcohol exposure during pregnancy
• compensate employees for overtime in the same month the overtime is earned

            The bill authorizes department employees who are granted law enforcement authority to assist municipal, county, state, or federal law enforcement officers in certain emergency situations and prohibits the exemption of any department employee from the requirements imposed under the sex offender treatment provider license.  The bill increases from 500 to 700 the number of inmates who may participate in a private contract work program and requires such a contract to pay at least the federal minimum wage.

            Senate Bill 909 requires the department to conduct:

• a study on using electronic monitoring devices for people on parole
• a study on alternatives to incarceration for certain low-risk and foreign inmates
• a feasibility study for the relocation of the Central Prison Unit and adjoining prison housing

            Senate Bill 909 specifies the department's responsibility relating to the provision of health care, including monitoring the quality of care delivered by the health care providers and requiring the health care providers to take corrective action if the care provided does not meet certain expectations. The bill requires the department to ensure that certain correctional health care information is available to inmates and the public.  Senate Bill 909 modifies the duties of CMHCC, including requiring the committee to:

• develop statewide policies on the delivery of correctional health care
• monitor the expenditures of UTMB and TTU
• identify and address the long-term needs of the correctional health care system
• report each quarter to the board on certain financial matters and corrective actions

            Senate Bill 909 provides for a legislative appropriation request and budget structure for the Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) that is separate from the department's request and budget structure and requires the establishment of a salary career ladder for parole officers.  The bill requires BPP to ensure that the parole guidelines require consideration of an inmate's progress in any program in which the inmate participated while incarcerated, annually review and update the guidelines, and report to the legislature its efforts in applying the guidelines.  Senate Bill 909 provides that the department may not prohibit a parole panel from or request that a parole panel refrain from requiring an inmate to complete a department treatment program before being released on parole.

            Senate Bill 909 modifies the procedure by which certain releasees may be released early from supervision by requiring a parole officer annually to identify eligible releasees and determine if a recommendation for early release is appropriate.  The bill requires the division to release the person from supervision if the parole supervisor approves the officer's recommendation for release.  The bill adds that a releasee must not have committed any violation of the rules or conditions of release during the preceding two years as a criteria to be eligible for early release.

            Senate Bill 909 expands the group of offenders for whom the judge is given discretion to either suspend the imposition of a sentence and place a defendant on community supervision or to order the sentence executed to include a defendant who was placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for certain state jail felonies. The bill authorizes a judge, under specified conditions, to release to a medically suitable placement certain elderly, mentally fragile, or physically fragile defendants convicted of a state jail felony and to take certain action if a defendant so released violates the terms of release.  Senate Bill 909 authorizes a judge to order a defendant to make a specified donation to a food bank or food pantry in lieu of completing community service hours. The bill requires that community supervision fees are transferred to the court into whose jurisdiction a defendant on community supervision is transferred.