1-1 By: Lengefeld (Senate Sponsor - Armbrister) H.B. No. 1318
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House March 31, 1999;
1-3 April 6, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Criminal Justice; May 10, 1999, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 10, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the authority of the Texas Department of Criminal
1-9 Justice to manage inmate money and to the procedures for managing
1-10 inmate money.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Sections 501.014(a), (b), (c), (d), (f), and (g),
1-13 Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-14 (a) The department [institutional division] shall take
1-15 possession of all money that an inmate has on the inmate's person
1-16 or that is received with the inmate when the inmate arrives at a
1-17 facility to be admitted to the custody of the department [operated
1-18 by the institutional division] and all money the inmate receives at
1-19 the department during confinement [after arriving at a facility
1-20 operated by the division] and shall credit the money to an account
1-21 [a trust fund] created for the inmate. [The institutional division
1-22 shall carefully search an inmate when the inmate arrives at a
1-23 facility operated by the division.] The department [institutional
1-24 division] may spend money from an inmate account [a trust fund] on
1-25 the written order of the inmate in whose name the account [fund]
1-26 is established or as required by law or policy subject to
1-27 restrictions on the expenditure established by law or policy. The
1-28 department shall ensure that each facility operated by or under
1-29 contract with the department shall operate an account [a trust
1-30 fund] system that complies with this section, but the department is
1-31 not required to operate a separate account [trust fund] system for
1-32 or at each facility.
1-33 (b) If an inmate with money in an account [a trust fund]
1-34 established under Subsection (a) dies while confined in a facility
1-35 operated by or under contract with the department [institutional
1-36 division or escapes or is discharged and does not claim the money],
1-37 the department [institutional division] shall attempt to give
1-38 notice of the account [fund to the discharged inmate or] to a [the]
1-39 beneficiary or [nearest] known relative of the [a] deceased[,
1-40 escaped, or discharged] inmate. On the presentation of a notarized
1-41 claim to the department for the money by a person entitled to the
1-42 notice, the department may [institutional division shall] pay any
1-43 amount not exceeding $2,500 of the deceased inmate's money held by
1-44 the department to the claimant. A claim for money in excess of
1-45 $2,500 must be made under Section 137, Probate Code, or another
1-46 law, as applicable. The department is not liable for making a
1-47 payment or failing to make a payment under this subsection.
1-48 (c) If money is unclaimed two years after the department
1-49 [institutional division] gives or attempts to give notice under
1-50 Subsection (b), or two years after the date of the death of an
1-51 inmate whose beneficiary or [nearest] relative is unknown, the
1-52 executive director, or the executive director's designee, [of the
1-53 institutional division] shall make an affidavit stating that the
1-54 money in the inmate account is unclaimed and send the affidavit and
1-55 money to the comptroller.
1-56 (d) An inmate who escapes or attempts to escape from the
1-57 custody of the department forfeits to the department all of the
1-58 money held by the department in the inmate's account at the time
1-59 of the escape or attempted escape. Money forfeited to the
1-60 comptroller under Subsection (c) escheats to the state.
1-61 (f) The department may place a hold on money [funds] in or
1-62 withdraw money [funds] from an inmate [trust fund] account:
1-63 (1) to restore amounts withdrawn by the inmate against
1-64 uncollected money [funds];
2-1 (2) to correct accounting errors;
2-2 (3) to make restitution for wrongful withdrawals made
2-3 by an inmate from the account [trust fund] of another inmate;
2-4 (4) to cover deposits until cleared;
2-5 (5) as directed by court order in accordance with
2-6 Subsection (e);
2-7 (6) as part of an investigation by the department of
2-8 inmate conduct involving the use of the account [trust funds] or an
2-9 investigation in which activity or money in the inmate's account
2-10 [trust fund] is evidence; [or]
2-11 (7) to transfer money [funds] deposited in violation
2-12 of law or department policy; or
2-13 (8) to recover money the inmate owes the department
2-14 for indigent supplies, medical copayments, destruction of state
2-15 property, or other indebtedness.
2-16 (g) The department shall withdraw money from an inmate's
2-17 account [trust fund] under Subsection (e) before the department
2-18 applies a deposit to that account [fund] toward any unpaid balance
2-19 owed to the department by the inmate under Section 501.061.
2-20 SECTION 2. Section 501.014(e), Government Code, as amended
2-21 by Chapters 807 and 1409, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular
2-22 Session, 1997, is reenacted and amended to read as follows:
2-23 (e) On notification by a court, the department shall
2-24 withdraw from an inmate's [trust fund] account any amount the
2-25 inmate is ordered to pay by order of the court under this
2-26 subsection. The department shall make a payment under this
2-27 subsection as ordered by the court to either the court or the party
2-28 specified in the court order. The department is not liable for
2-29 withdrawing or failing to withdraw money or making payments or
2-30 failing to make payments under this subsection. The department
2-31 shall make withdrawals and payments from an inmate's [trust fund]
2-32 account under this subsection according to the following schedule
2-33 of priorities:
2-34 (1) as payment in full for all orders for child
2-35 support;
2-36 (2) as payment in full for all orders for restitution;
2-37 (3) as payment in full for all orders for
2-38 reimbursement of the Texas Department of Human Services for
2-39 financial assistance provided for the child's health needs under
2-40 Chapter 31, Human Resources Code, to a child of the inmate;
2-41 (4) [(3)] as payment in full for all orders for court
2-42 fees and costs;
2-43 (5) [(4)] as payment in full for all orders for fines;
2-44 and
2-45 (6) [(5)] as payment in full for any other court
2-46 order, judgment, or writ.
2-47 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-48 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-49 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-50 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-51 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-52 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-53 * * * * *