73R6178 GWK-D
          By Conley                                             H.B. No. 1602
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the employment of inmates of the institutional division
    1-3  of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice by contractors
    1-4  constructing institutional division facilities.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 497, Government Code, is
    1-7  amended by adding Section 497.096 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 497.096.  USE OF INMATE LABOR BY CONTRACTORS.  (a)  The
    1-9  board, by rule, may permit the employment of inmates by a
   1-10  contractor operating under a construction contract with the board.
   1-11        (b)  An inmate employed by a contractor under this section
   1-12  may not during any period of employment leave the premises of the
   1-13  institutional division.
   1-14        (c)  A contractor employing an inmate under this section
   1-15  shall pay the inmate at a wage at least as high as the prevailing
   1-16  wage for similar work in the area where the work is performed.
   1-17        (d)  A contractor shall provide workers' compensation
   1-18  benefits to an inmate employed under this section and the inmate's
   1-19  beneficiaries.
   1-20        (e)  The salary of an inmate employed under this section
   1-21  shall be paid to the director and the institutional division and
   1-22  distributed as follows:
   1-23              (1)  if the inmate has children who are dependents of
   1-24  the spouse or the inmate, other dependent family members, or a
    2-1  spouse, one-half of the salary to these individuals and one-half to
    2-2  the compensation of victims of crime fund in the state treasury
    2-3  created under Section 14, Crime Victims Compensation Act (Article
    2-4  8309-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes); or
    2-5              (2)  if the inmate has no dependent or spouse, to the
    2-6  compensation of victims of crime fund described by Subdivision (1).
    2-7        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-8  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-9  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-10  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-11  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-12  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-13  passage, and it is so enacted.
   2-14                       COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
   2-15        Amend H.B. 1602 on page 1 by striking Section (d), lines 17
   2-16  through 19 and re-number the following sections accordingly.
   2-17                                                     Turner of Harris