By Allen                                              H.B. No. 1617
         77R4981 GWK-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to funding for the expansion of the private sector prison
 1-3     industries program.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Section 497.056, Government Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 497.056.  PRIVATE SECTOR PRISON INDUSTRIES EXPANSION
 1-8     [OVERSIGHT] ACCOUNT. [(a) A private sector prison industries
 1-9     program shall make an annual payment to the authority in an amount
1-10     equal to the amount of money the program would pay during that year
1-11     for unemployment insurance if the employees of the program were
1-12     engaged in non-prison employment.]
1-13           [(b)]  The department [authority] shall forward money [fees]
1-14     collected under Section 497.0581 [this section] to the comptroller.
1-15     The comptroller shall deposit half of the money [the fees] to the
1-16     credit of an account in the general revenue fund to be known as the
1-17     private sector prison industries expansion [oversight] account and
1-18     half to the credit of the general revenue fund.  Money in the
1-19     account may be appropriated only to construct work facilities and
1-20     recruit corporations to participate as private sector prison
1-21     industries programs.  [The legislature may appropriate funds from
1-22     the account only for the purpose of paying the costs of the
1-23     authority and the department in implementing this subchapter,
1-24     including the cost to the department of paying the reimbursable
 2-1     expenses of authority members under Section 497.055 and the
 2-2     employer liaison as provided by Section 497.052(c).] At the end of
 2-3     each fiscal year, the comptroller shall transfer the excess funds
 2-4     in the account to the state treasury to the credit of the crime
 2-5     victims compensation fund.
 2-6           [(c)  The authority by rule shall adopt a method for
 2-7     determining the amount of the fee owed by an industry under this
 2-8     section and a schedule for the payment of fees under this section.]
 2-9           SECTION 2. The amendment to Section 497.056, Government Code,
2-10     made by this Act does not apply to an annual payment made by a
2-11     private sector prison industries program before the effective date
2-12     of this Act, and a program that makes a required payment before the
2-13     effective date of this Act is not, on or after the effective date
2-14     of this Act, eligible to receive a full or partial refund of the
2-15     payment.
2-16           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.