1-1     By:  McClendon, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Nelson)       H.B. No. 485

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House March 6, 1997;

 1-3     March 12, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on

 1-4     Criminal Justice; April 30, 1997, reported favorably by the

 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 30, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to requiring that an out-of-state inmate housed in a

 1-9     correctional facility in this state be returned to the sending

1-10     state before the inmate's release from imprisonment.

1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-12           SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 495, Government Code, is

1-13     amended by adding Section 495.024 to read as follows:

1-14           Sec. 495.024.  RELEASE OF OUT-OF-STATE INMATES.  A county or

1-15     a municipality or a private vendor operating a correctional

1-16     facility under a contract with a county under Subchapter F, Chapter

1-17     351, Local Government Code, or a municipality under Subchapter E,

1-18     Chapter 361, Local Government Code, that enters into a contract

1-19     with any entity to house in this state inmates convicted of

1-20     offenses committed against the laws of another state of the United

1-21     States must require as a condition of the contract that each inmate

1-22     to be released from custody must be released in the sending state.

1-23           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only

1-24     to a contract entered into on or after the effective date of this

1-25     Act by a county, municipality, or private vendor.  A contract

1-26     entered into before the effective date of this Act is covered by

1-27     the law in effect when the contract was entered into, and the

1-28     former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

1-29           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-30     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-31     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-32     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-33     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-34     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-35     passage, and it is so enacted.

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