78R5241 GWK-F
By: Stick H.B. No. 2190
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to contracts between the Texas Board of Criminal Justice
and commissioners courts or private vendors for certain facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 495.001(b) and (e), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(b) A facility operated, maintained, and managed under this
subchapter by a private vendor or county must:
(1) [hold not more than an average daily population of
1,000 inmates;
[(2)] comply with federal constitutional standards
and applicable court orders; and
(2) [(3)] receive and retain, as an individual
facility, accreditation from the American Correctional
Association.
(e) The board shall give priority to entering contracts
under this subchapter that will provide the institutional division
with secure regionally based [correctional] facilities designed to
successfully reintegrate inmates into society through preparole,
prerelease, work release, and prison industries programs.
SECTION 2. Sections 495.003(c) and (d), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(c) In addition to meeting the requirements specified in the
requests for proposals, a proposal must:
(1) provide for regular, on-site monitoring [by the
institutional division];
(2) acknowledge that payment by the state is subject
to the availability of appropriations;
(3) provide for payment of a maximum amount per
biennium;
(4) offer a level and quality of programs at least
equal to those provided by state-operated facilities that house
similar types of inmates and at a cost that provides the state with,
after factoring in annual inflation adjustments and other cost
escalation adjustments, a savings of not less than 10 percent of the
cost of housing inmates in similar facilities and providing similar
programs to those types of inmates in state-operated facilities;
(5) permit the state to terminate the contract for
cause, including as cause the failure of the private vendor or
county to meet the conditions required by this subchapter and other
conditions required by the contract;
(6) [provide that cost adjustments may be made only
once each fiscal year, to take effect at the beginning of the next
fiscal year;
[(7)] have an initial contract term of not more than
five [three] years, with an option to renew for additional periods
of two years;
(7) [(8)] if the proposal includes construction of a
facility, contain a performance bond approved by the board that is
adequate and appropriate for the proposed contract;
(8) [(9)] provide for assumption of liability by the
private vendor or county for all claims arising from the services
performed under the contract by the private vendor or county;
(9) [(10)] provide for an adequate plan of insurance
for the private vendor or county and its officers, guards,
employees, and agents against all claims, including claims based on
violations of civil rights arising from the services performed
under the contract by the private vendor or county;
(10) [(11)] provide for an adequate plan of insurance
to protect the state against all claims arising from the services
performed under the contract by the private vendor or county and to
protect the state from actions by a third party against the private
vendor or county, its officers, guards, employees, and agents as a
result of the contract;
(11) [(12)] provide plans for the purchase and
assumption of operations by the state in the event of the bankruptcy
of the private vendor or inability of the county to perform its
duties under the contract; and
(12) [(13)] contain comprehensive standards for
conditions of confinement.
(d) Before [the commissioners court of] a county enters
[proposes to enter] into a contract under this subchapter, the
commissioners court of the county must approve the contract by vote
[receive the written approval of the sheriff of the county. A
sheriff may not unreasonably withhold written approval under this
subsection]. A correctional facility provided by a county under
this subchapter is subject to the same standards and requirements
as a correctional facility provided by a private vendor.
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 495, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 495.0031 to read as follows:
Sec. 495.0031. PARITY IN CONTRACT TERMS. The board shall
ensure that any contract with a commissioners court or private
vendor imposes the same obligations, notices, and termination
provisions on each party to the contract.
SECTION 4. Section 495.008, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (g) to read as
follows:
(b) The department shall ensure that all new and renewed
contracts described by Subsection (a) include:
(1) a provision that the department or a designee of
the department may conduct periodic contract compliance reviews,
without advance notice, to monitor vendor performance;
(2) minimum acceptable standards of performance
prescribed by the department that include provisions regarding the
health, safety, and welfare of inmates and releasees;
(3) a provision that if a review determines that a
vendor is not in compliance with the contract, the department,
unless the department is also not in compliance with the contract,
may require that the vendor's per diem compensation be withheld
until the vendor meets contract requirements or the vendor is
replaced;
(4) a provision requiring a vendor not in compliance
with the contract to implement a plan of corrective action approved
by the department; and
(5) a provision under which the state is indemnified
for costs of litigation and for any damages in lawsuits alleging
that the health, safety, or welfare of an inmate or releasee in a
contract facility is not protected.
(g) The department may not include in a contract a minimum
acceptable standard of performance that exceeds the standard of
performance achieved by the department in facilities operated by
the department.
SECTION 5. Sections 495.001(f), 495.006, and 495.007,
Government Code, are repealed.
SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a contract entered into by the Texas Board of Criminal Justice
and a commissioners court or private vendor on or after the
effective date of this Act. A contract entered into before the
effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect when the
contract was entered into, and the former law is continued in effect
for this purpose.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.