By: Shapiro S.B. No. 420
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to certain contracts for inmate labor and to criminal and
1-2 administrative consequences for inmates who gain access to certain
1-3 information while performing inmate labor.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 497, Government Code, is
1-6 amended by adding Section 497.011 to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 497.011. CERTAIN CONTRACTS PROHIBITED. The department
1-8 may not enter into a contract with a private business or public
1-9 entity that requires or permits an inmate confined in a
1-10 correctional facility operated by or for the department to have
1-11 access to personal information about persons who are not confined
1-12 in facilities operated by or for the department.
1-13 SECTION 2. Sections 497.098, 498.0041, and 507.028,
1-14 Government Code, are repealed.
1-15 SECTION 3. Section 38.111, Penal Code, is repealed.
1-16 SECTION 4. Section 1 of this Act applies only to a contract
1-17 entered into by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on or
1-18 after the effective date of this Act. A contract entered into by
1-19 the department before the effective date of this Act is covered by
1-20 the law in effect when the contract was entered into, and the
1-21 former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-22 SECTION 5. (a) The repeal by this Act of Section 38.111,
1-23 Penal Code, does not apply to an offense committed under that
1-24 section before the effective date of the repeal. For purposes of
2-1 this section, an offense is committed before the effective date of
2-2 the repeal if any element of the offense occurs before that date.
2-3 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of the
2-4 repeal is covered by Section 38.111, Penal Code, as it existed on
2-5 the date on which the offense was committed, and the former law is
2-6 continued in effect for that purpose.
2-7 SECTION 6. Notwithstanding the repeal by this Act of Section
2-8 498.0041, Government Code, the director of the institutional
2-9 division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall forfeit
2-10 good conduct time earned by an inmate convicted of an offense under
2-11 Section 38.111, Penal Code, as provided by Section 498.0041,
2-12 Government Code, regardless of whether the conviction occurs
2-13 before, on, or after the effective date of this Act, and Section
2-14 498.0041, Government Code, is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-15 SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-16 SECTION 8. The importance of this legislation and the
2-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.