By McClendon                                           H.B. No. 129
         76R1408 PEP-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the award of good conduct time to inmates who
 1-3     voluntarily submit to certain controlled substances testing.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 498.003, Government Code, is amended by
 1-6     adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
 1-7           (g)  An inmate may accrue good conduct time, in an amount
 1-8     determined by the department that does not exceed 15 days for each
 1-9     30 days  actually served, for voluntarily submitting to testing for
1-10     the presence of a controlled substance in the inmate's body on a
1-11     schedule developed by the department.  The department may not award
1-12     good conduct time under this subsection to an inmate who is
1-13     ineligible for release to mandatory supervision under Section
1-14     508.149.
1-15           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
1-16     to an inmate of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice serving a
1-17     sentence for an offense committed on or after the effective date of
1-18     this Act.  An inmate serving a sentence for an offense committed
1-19     before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
1-20     effect when the offense was committed, and the former law is
1-21     continued in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this
1-22     section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this
1-23     Act if any element of the offense occurs before the effective date.
1-24           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-1           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.