1-1  By:  Johnson, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Haley)          H.B. No. 864
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House March 17, 1993;
    1-3  March 18, 1993, read first time and referred to Committee on
    1-4  Economic Development; April 6, 1993, reported favorably by the
    1-5  following vote:  Yeas 9, Nays 0; April 6, 1993, sent to printer.)
    1-6                            COMMITTEE VOTE
    1-7                          Yea     Nay      PNV      Absent 
    1-8        Parker             x                               
    1-9        Lucio              x                               
   1-10        Ellis              x                               
   1-11        Haley              x                               
   1-12        Harris of Dallas                               x   
   1-13        Harris of Tarrant  x                               
   1-14        Leedom             x                               
   1-15        Madla                                          x   
   1-16        Rosson             x                               
   1-17        Shapiro            x                               
   1-18        Wentworth          x                               
   1-19                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
   1-20                                AN ACT
   1-21  relating to work programs for inmates confined in county jail
   1-22  awaiting transfer to the institutional division of the Texas
   1-23  Department of Criminal Justice.
   1-24        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-25        SECTION 1.  Article 43.101, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
   1-26  amended to read as follows:
   1-27        Art. 43.101.  VOLUNTARY WORK BY PRETRIAL DETAINEES AND
   1-28  DEFENDANTS AWAITING TRANSFER.  (a)  A defendant confined in county
   1-29  jail awaiting trial or awaiting transfer to the institutional
   1-30  division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice following
   1-31  conviction or revocation of probation, parole, or mandatory
   1-32  supervision may volunteer to participate in any work program
   1-33  operated by the sheriff that uses the labor of convicted
   1-34  misdemeanants <defendants>.
   1-35        (b)  The sheriff may accept a defendant as a volunteer under
   1-36  Subsection (a) of this article <section> if the defendant is not
   1-37  awaiting trial for or convicted of an offense involving violence,
   1-38  and if the sheriff determines that the inmate has not engaged
   1-39  previously in violent conduct and does not pose a security risk to
   1-40  the general public if allowed to participate in the work program.
   1-41        (c)  A sheriff, employee of a sheriff's department, county
   1-42  commissioner, county employee, or county judge is not liable for
   1-43  damages arising from an act or failure to act in connection with
   1-44  manual labor performed by an inmate under this article if the act
   1-45  or failure to act was not intentional, wilfully or wantonly
   1-46  negligent, or performed with conscious indifference or reckless
   1-47  disregard for the safety of others <The limitations on liability of
   1-48  a county for damages suffered by an inmate participating in a work
   1-49  program operated by the sheriff apply to a defendant who volunteers
   1-50  under Subsection (a) of this article in the same manner as if the
   1-51  inmate were participating in the program after conviction of an
   1-52  offense>.
   1-53        SECTION 2.  Section 498.003(e), Government Code, is amended
   1-54  to read as follows:
   1-55        (e)  If a person confined in a county jail is transferred to
   1-56  the institutional division, the director of the institutional
   1-57  division shall award good conduct time to the person up to an
   1-58  amount equal to that which the person could have accrued during the
   1-59  period of imprisonment in the county jail if instead the person had
   1-60  been incarcerated in the division during that period.  The director
   1-61  of the institutional division shall award good conduct time to a
   1-62  defendant for diligent participation in a voluntary work program
   1-63  operated by a sheriff under Article 43.101, Code of Criminal
   1-64  Procedure, in the same manner as if the inmate had diligently
   1-65  participated in an industrial program or other work program
   1-66  provided to inmates by the institutional division.  The sheriff of
   1-67  each county shall have  attached a certification of the number of
   1-68  days each inmate diligently participated in the volunteer work
    2-1  program operated by the sheriff under Article 43.101, Code of
    2-2  Criminal Procedure.
    2-3        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-9  passage, and it is so enacted.
   2-10                               * * * * *
   2-11                                                         Austin,
   2-12  Texas
   2-13                                                         April 6, 1993
   2-14  Hon. Bob Bullock
   2-15  President of the Senate
   2-16  Sir:
   2-17  We, your Committee on Economic Development to which was referred
   2-18  H.B. No. 864, have had the same under consideration, and I am
   2-19  instructed to report it back to the Senate with the recommendation
   2-20  that it do pass and be printed.
   2-21                                                         Parker,
   2-22  Chairman
   2-23                               * * * * *
   2-24                               WITNESSES
   2-25                                                  FOR   AGAINST  ON
   2-26  ___________________________________________________________________
   2-27  Name:  Ron Harris, Collin County Judge           x
   2-28  Representing:  Collin County
   2-29  City:  McKinney
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   2-31  Name:  Arlan Foster                              x
   2-32  Representing:  Tx Conf. of Police & Sheriffs
   2-33  City:  Baytown
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   2-35  Name:  Lynwood Moreau                            x
   2-36  Representing:  Harris Co. Deputy Sheriff's Un
   2-37  City:  Houston
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