This website will be unavailable from Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, June 3, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
79R12443 MFC-F
By: Haggerty H.B. No. 574
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 574:
By: Haggerty C.S.H.B. No. 574
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the provision of pay telephone service to inmates
confined in facilities operated by the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 495, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 495.025 to read as follows:
Sec. 495.025. INMATE PAY TELEPHONE SERVICE. (a) The board
shall request proposals from private vendors for a contract to
provide pay telephone service to inmates confined in facilities
operated by the department. The board may not consider a proposal
or award a contract to provide the service unless under the contract
the vendor:
(1) provides for installation, operation, and
maintenance of the service without any cost to the state;
(2) pays the department a commission of 40 percent of
the gross revenue received from the use of any service provided;
(3) provides a system with the capacity to:
(A) compile approved inmate calling lists;
(B) verify numbers to be called by inmates, if
necessary;
(C) oversee entry of personal identification
numbers;
(D) use a biometric identifier of the inmate
making the call;
(E) limit the duration and frequency of calls to
detect and prevent an inmate's excessive use of the system and to
reduce the likelihood of a significant financial burden on an
inmate's family as a result of the service;
(F) generate reports to department personnel on
inmate calling patterns; and
(G) network all individual facility systems
together to allow the same investigative monitoring from department
headquarters that is available at each facility;
(4) provides on-site monitoring of calling patterns
and customizes technology to provide adequate system security;
(5) provides a fully automated system that does not
require a department operator;
(6) provides for periodic review by the department or
an independent entity of documents maintained by the vendor
regarding billing procedures and statements, rate structures,
computed commissions, and service metering;
(7) ensures that a ratio of not greater than 30 inmates
per communication device is maintained at each facility;
(8) ensures that no charge will be assessed for an
uncompleted call and that the charge for local calls will not be
greater than the highest rate for local calls for inmates in county
jails; and
(9) ensures that each eligible inmate or person acting
on behalf of an inmate may prepay for the service.
(b) The board shall award a contract to a single private
vendor to install, operate, and maintain the inmate pay telephone
service. The term of the contract may not be less than five years.
The contract may contain an option allowing the board to elect to
renew the contract for a second term of not more than two years.
(c) Subject to board approval, the department may adopt
rules setting additional requirements for a contract awarded under
this section.
(d) The department shall transfer 50 percent of all
commissions paid to the department by a vendor under this section to
the compensation to victims of crime fund established by Subchapter
B, Chapter 56, Code of Criminal Procedure, and the other 50 percent
to the credit of the undedicated portion of the general revenue
fund, except that the department shall transfer the first $10
million collected in any given year under a contract awarded under
this section to the compensation to victims of crime fund
established by Subchapter B, Chapter 56. This section does not
reduce any appropriation to the department.
(e) Subject to board approval, the department shall adopt
rules governing the use of the telephone service by an inmate
confined in a facility operated by the department. The rules
adopted under this subsection may not unduly restrict calling
patterns or volume.
(f) The department shall ensure that no confidential
attorney-client communication is monitored or recorded by the
department or any person acting on the department's behalf and
shall provide to the vendor the name and telephone number of each
attorney who represents an inmate to ensure that communication
between the inmate and the attorney is not monitored or recorded.
(g) The department shall ensure that the inmate is allowed
to communicate only with persons who are on a call list that is
preapproved by the department. The department shall ensure that
all communications under this section are recorded and preserved
for a reasonable period of time for law enforcement and security
purposes.
SECTION 2. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice shall award a contract
under Section 495.025, Government Code, as added by this Act, not
later than January 1, 2006.
(b) If this Act does not take effect immediately, the Texas
Board of Criminal Justice shall award a contract under Section
495.025, Government Code, as added by this Act, not later than March
1, 2006.
SECTION 3. 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, 2005.