By Dukes H.B. No. 621 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the requirements for the location of a correctional or 1-3 rehabilitation facility. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Section 244.004, Local Government Code, is 1-6 amended by adding Subsections (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) to 1-7 read as follows: 1-8 (c) A public hearing under Subsection (a) must be held in a 1-9 public meeting facility that is located within 1-1/4 miles of the 1-10 proposed location of the correctional or rehabilitation facility. 1-11 (d) An entity that is required to give notice under Section 1-12 244.002(a) may not enter a contract, including a lease, for the 1-13 construction or operation of the proposed correctional or 1-14 rehabilitation facility until the period during which local 1-15 consent may be denied under Subsection (a) has expired. 1-16 (e) An entity that is required to give notice under Section 1-17 244.002(a) shall also give notice of a public hearing conducted 1-18 under this section, by certified mail, to: 1-19 (1) all persons entitled to notice under Section 1-20 244.002; and 1-21 (2) each neighborhood association for a neighborhood 1-22 in the area or adjacent to the area in which the facility is 1-23 proposed to be located. 1-24 (f) Notice under Subsection (e) must: 2-1 (1) describe the proposed facility and the proposed 2-2 location; and 2-3 (2) contain the following notice in bold letters: 2-4 "Under state law, if any opposition to the proposed facility is 2-5 voiced at this public hearing, consent to operate the proposed 2-6 facility at the proposed location may be granted only by a 2-7 unanimous vote of the commissioners court or the governing body of 2-8 the municipality, as appropriate, and the unanimous consent of each 2-9 neighborhood association for a neighborhood in the area or adjacent 2-10 to the area in which the facility is proposed to be located." 2-11 (g) A copy of the notice described by Subsection (f) shall 2-12 be published in a newspaper of general circulation published in the 2-13 county or municipality where the proposed facility is to be 2-14 located. 2-15 (h) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), if any opposition to the 2-16 proposed facility is voiced at the public hearing, a commissioners 2-17 court or the governing body of a municipality, as appropriate, may 2-18 grant consent to operate the proposed facility at the proposed 2-19 location only if: 2-20 (1) the governing body of each neighborhood 2-21 association for a neighborhood in the area or adjacent to the area 2-22 in which the facility is proposed to be located, by unanimous vote, 2-23 consents to the operation of the proposed facility; and 2-24 (2) the commissioners court or the governing body of 2-25 the municipality, by unanimous vote, determines that the operation 2-26 of the proposed facility is in the best interests of the county or 2-27 the municipality, as appropriate. 3-1 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the 3-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 3-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 3-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 3-6 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 3-7 passage, and it is so enacted.