By:  Parker                                            S.B. No. 175
       73R2985 CLG-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of the Commission on Jail Standards to
    1-3  regulate the temporary housing of county inmates in certain
    1-4  facilities to alleviate overcrowding in county jails.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 351, Local Government Code,
    1-7  is amended by adding Section 351.0035 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 351.0035.  TEMPORARY HOUSING.  (a)  On request of the
    1-9  commissioners court of a county,  the Commission on Jail Standards
   1-10  shall authorize a county to house a prisoner in a tent or other
   1-11  facility that is not a county jail if:
   1-12              (1)  the county by accepting the prisoner will cause
   1-13  each county jail located in the county to reach or exceed 95
   1-14  percent of the county jail's capacity; and
   1-15              (2)  the commissioners court of the county has
   1-16  authorized the construction of a new county jail, or the expansion
   1-17  of an existing county jail, that complies with the jail standards
   1-18  under this subchapter.
   1-19        (b)  The commissioners court of a county may not make a
   1-20  request under Subsection (a) unless the commissioners court first
   1-21  receives the written approval of the sheriff of the county.  On the
   1-22  request of the commissioners court, the sheriff shall approve the
   1-23  submission of a request under Subsection (a) unless the sheriff
   1-24  reasonably finds good cause for withholding approval.
    2-1        (c)  A county may not temporarily house a prisoner under this
    2-2  section if:
    2-3              (1)  the executive director of the Commission on Jail
    2-4  Standards determines that the county is not making a good faith
    2-5  effort to proceed with the construction of the new or expanded
    2-6  county jail;
    2-7              (2)  the prisoner population at a county jail in the
    2-8  county is below 95 percent of the county jail's capacity at any
    2-9  time before the county transfers the prisoner to the new or
   2-10  expanded county jail; or
   2-11              (3)  the executive director of the Commission on Jail
   2-12  Standards determines that the county is in violation of a rule
   2-13  adopted under Subsection (d).
   2-14        (d)  The Commission on Jail Standards shall adopt rules that
   2-15  govern the temporary housing of prisoners, including a specific
   2-16  requirement for:
   2-17              (1)  the classification and separation of prisoners;
   2-18              (2)  the supervision of prisoners;
   2-19              (3)  safety, sanitation, and health;
   2-20              (4)  the structure and maintenance of the facility;
   2-21              (5)  the provision of bunks or sleeping areas for
   2-22  prisoners or other furnishings for the facility;
   2-23              (6)  the space and capacity in the facility; and
   2-24              (7)  the enforcement of a rule the commission adopts
   2-25  under this subsection.
   2-26        (e)  A rule adopted under Subsection (d) must be consistent
   2-27  with the jail standards imposed by or adopted under other
    3-1  provisions of this subchapter unless the commission determines
    3-2  compliance is not practicable or reasonable.
    3-3        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-9  passage, and it is so enacted.