By Kamel                                        H.B. No. 1349

      75R6334 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the ability of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

 1-3     to enter into contracts for inmate labor that provide inmates with

 1-4     access to personal information about persons who are not confined.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 497, Government Code, is

 1-7     amended by adding Section 497.011 to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 497.011.  CERTAIN CONTRACTS PROHIBITED.  The department

 1-9     may not enter into a contract with another public entity that

1-10     requires or permits an inmate confined in a correctional facility

1-11     operated by  or for the department to have access to personal

1-12     information about persons who are not confined in facilities

1-13     operated by or for the department.

1-14           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect on September 1, 1997, and

1-15     applies to a contract initially entered into by the Texas

1-16     Department of Criminal Justice on or after that date.  A contract

1-17     entered into by the department before the effective date of this

1-18     Act and a renewal of that contract, regardless of when the renewal

1-19     is executed, is covered by the law in effect when the contract was

1-20     entered into, and the former law is continued in effect for that

1-21     purpose.

1-22           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.