By Hudson                                             H.B. No. 2434
       74R7828 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the creation of a program to provide inmates an
    1-3  alternative to the meals normally provided inmates by the
    1-4  institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 501, Government Code, is
    1-7  amended by adding Section 501.0031 to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 501.0031.  ALTERNATIVE MEAL PROGRAM.  (a)  The
    1-9  institutional division may make available to inmates and charge a
   1-10  reasonable price for meals that consist of larger portions or are
   1-11  of a higher quality than meals ordinarily provided to inmates.
   1-12        (b)  The institutional division may make a meal described by
   1-13  Subsection (a) available to an inmate only if the inmate is not at
   1-14  the time of requesting the meal under sanction for a disciplinary
   1-15  violation.  An inmate may pay for the meal from money in the
   1-16  inmate's trust account, and the institutional division shall accept
   1-17  money from a relative of the inmate for deposit in the inmate's
   1-18  trust account for the purpose of purchasing meals under this
   1-19  section.
   1-20        (c)  The institutional division may not decrease the size of
   1-21  portions or lower the quality of meals provided to inmates who do
   1-22  not participate in the program authorized by this section.
   1-23        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-24  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-1  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-2  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-3  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    2-4  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    2-5  passage, and it is so enacted.