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.