By Gutierrez                                            H.B. No. 88
         76R1288 PAM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to permitting a county to donate money to certain crime
 1-3     prevention organizations.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 351.901, Local Government Code, is
 1-6     amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 351.901.  DONATION TO CERTAIN CRIME STOPPERS AND CRIME
 1-8     PREVENTION ORGANIZATIONS [ORGANIZATION].  (a)  In this section:
 1-9                 (1)  [,] "Crime [crime] stoppers organization" means a
1-10     private, nonprofit organization or a public organization that:
1-11                       (A)  is operated on a local or statewide level;
1-12                       (B)  [, that] accepts and expends donations for
1-13     rewards to persons who report to the organization information about
1-14     criminal activity;[,] and
1-15                       (C)  [that] forwards the information to the
1-16     appropriate law enforcement agency.
1-17                 (2)  "Crime prevention organization" means an
1-18     organization with an advisory council consisting of local law
1-19     enforcement officers  and volunteers from the community that:
1-20                       (A)  is operated on a local or statewide level;
1-21                       (B)  identifies crime-related issues relevant to
1-22     a segment of society particularly prone to victimization, including
1-23     the elderly population; and
1-24                       (C)  provides assistance to the community in the
 2-1     form of crime prevention and education and provides training for
 2-2     law enforcement officers in dealing effectively with the segment of
 2-3     society prone to victimization.
 2-4           (b)  The commissioners court of a county by contract may
 2-5     donate money to one or more crime stoppers or crime prevention
 2-6     organizations for expenditure by the organizations to meet the
 2-7     goals identified in Subsection (a) [for rewards].  The total amount
 2-8     of all donations made in a calendar year may not exceed $25,000.
 2-9           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-14     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-15     passage, and it is so enacted.