By Gray H.B. No. 2502
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the disposition of inmates' pay and moneys deposited in
1-3 an inmate trust fund.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 497.004, Government Code,
1-6 is amended to read as follows:
1-7 (b) The board may develop and administer an incentive pay
1-8 scale for inmates confined in the institutional division who
1-9 participate in the prison industries program. The program may be
1-10 financed through contributions donated for this purpose by private
1-11 businesses contracting with the institutional division. The
1-12 institutional division shall apportion pay earned by an inmate
1-13 under this subchapter to the following persons and entities, in
1-14 amounts determined at the discretion of the division:
1-15 (1) persons to whom the inmate has been ordered by a
1-16 court to pay restitution;
1-17 (2) the compensation to victims of crime fund and the
1-18 victims of crime auxiliary fund created by Article 56.54, Code of
1-19 Criminal Procedure;
1-20 (3) the inmate's family and dependents;
1-21 (4) <(3)> the state, as reimbursement for the cost of
1-22 the inmate's confinement; and
1-23 (5) <(4) the compensation to victims of crime fund
2-1 created by Section 14, Crime Victims Compensation Act (Article
2-2 8309-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes);> the inmate's trust fund.
2-3 SECTION 2. Subsection (e), Section 501.014, Government Code,
2-4 is amended to read as follows:
2-5 (e) On notification by a court, the director of the
2-6 institutional division shall withdraw from an inmate's trust fund
2-7 any amount the inmate is ordered to pay by order of the court for
2-8 restitution, child support, reimbursement, <restitution,> fines,
2-9 and court costs. The director shall make a payment under this
2-10 subsection as ordered by the court to either the court or the party
2-11 specified in the court order. The director, the institutional
2-12 division, and the department are not liable for withdrawing or
2-13 failing to withdraw money or making payments or failing to make
2-14 payments under this subsection. The director shall make
2-15 withdrawals and payments from an inmate's trust fund under this
2-16 subsection according to the following schedule of priorities:
2-17 (1) as payment in full for all orders for restitution;
2-18 (2) <(1)> as payment in full for all orders for child
2-19 support;
2-20 (3) as payment in full for all orders for
2-21 reimbursement to the victims of crime compensation fund and the
2-22 victims of crime auxiliary fund; <(2) as payment in full for all
2-23 orders for restitution;>
2-24 (4) <(3)> as payment in full for all orders for fines;
2-25 and
3-1 (5) <(4)> as payment in full for all orders for court
3-2 costs.
3-3 SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect on
3-4 September 1, 1995.
3-5 SECTION 4. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
3-6 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-10 and it is so enacted.