79R9419 GWK-F

By:  Ogden                                                        S.B. No. 1612



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to ensuring cost savings in the operation of certain 
governmental entities that provide criminal justice and public 
safety services.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  (a)  Notwithstanding any statute to the 
contrary, the legislature, in its discretion, may determine the 
amount of each appropriation of state funds.  The amounts required 
by statute for entities that receive state funds under Article V of 
the General Appropriations Act, 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 
2005, may be reduced or eliminated in order to achieve a balanced 
budget.
	(b)  This section expires September 1, 2007.                                   
	SECTION 2.  (a)  This section applies to each public safety 
and criminal justice agency listed in Article V of the General 
Appropriations Act, 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005.
	(b)  Notwithstanding any other statute of this state, each 
state agency to which this section applies is authorized to reduce 
expenditures by:
		(1)  consolidating any reports or publications the 
agency is required to make and filing or delivering any of those 
reports or publications exclusively by electronic means;
		(2)  extending the effective period of any license, 
permit, or registration the agency grants or administers;
		(3)  entering into a contract with another governmental 
entity or with a private vendor to carry out any of the agency's 
duties;
		(4)  providing that any communication between the 
agency and another person and any document required to be delivered 
to or by the agency, including any application, notice, billing 
statement, receipt, or certificate, may be made or delivered by 
electronic mail or through the Internet; and
		(5)  adopting and collecting fees or charges to cover 
any costs the agency incurs in performing its lawful functions.
	SECTION 3.  Section 508.146(a), Government Code, is amended 
to read as follows:
	(a)  An inmate[,] other than an inmate who is serving a 
sentence of death [or an inmate who has a reportable conviction or 
adjudication under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure,] may be 
released on medically recommended intensive supervision on a date 
designated by a parole panel described by Subsection (e), except 
that an inmate with an instant offense that is an offense described 
in Section 3g, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, or an 
inmate who has a reportable conviction or adjudication under 
Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, may only be considered if a 
medical condition of terminal illness or long-term care has been 
diagnosed by a physician, if:
		(1)  the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with 
Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the Correctional 
Managed Health Care Committee, identifies the inmate as being 
elderly, physically disabled, mentally ill, terminally ill, or 
mentally retarded or having a condition requiring long-term care;
		(2)  the parole panel determines that, based on the 
inmate's condition and a medical evaluation, the inmate does not 
constitute a threat to public safety; and
		(3)  the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with 
Medical or Mental Impairments, in cooperation with the pardons and 
paroles division, has prepared for the inmate a medically 
recommended intensive supervision plan that requires the inmate to 
submit to electronic monitoring, places the inmate on 
super-intensive supervision, or otherwise ensures appropriate 
supervision of the inmate.
	SECTION 4.  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.