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Amend CSSB 909 by adding the following appropriately numbered
SECTIONS to the bill and renumbering subsequent SECTIONS of the
bill as appropriate:
SECTION ____. Subtitle E, Title 2, Health and Safety Code,
is amended by adding Chapter 115 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 115. CENTER FOR CORRECTIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH AND HEALTH
PROMOTION
Sec. 115.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "center" means
the Center for Correctional Public Health and Health Promotion.
Sec. 115.002. SUNSET PROVISION. The Center for
Correctional Public Health and Health Promotion is subject to
Chapter 325, Government Code (Texas Sunset Act). Unless continued
in existence as provided by that chapter, the center is abolished
and this chapter expires September 1, 2019.
Sec. 115.003. COMPOSITION OF GOVERNING BOARD. (a) The
governing board of the center is composed of:
(1) the administrative head of the following agencies
or that person's designee:
(A) the Department of State Health Services; and
(B) the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; and
(2) the following members appointed by the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice:
(A) a representative of a county correctional
department;
(B) a correctional health care worker;
(C) a representative of an organization that
represents inmates; and
(D) a representative from the University of Texas
Health Science Center at Houston.
(b) Members of the governing board of the center appointed
by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice serve staggered
two-year terms, with the terms of two members expiring on February 1
of each year.
Sec. 115.004. CENTER FOR CORRECTIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH AND
HEALTH PROMOTION. The Center for Correctional Public Health and
Health Promotion shall be based at the University of Texas Health
Science Center at Houston.
Sec. 115.005. POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The center shall
focus its efforts at preventing and reducing communicable diseases
in inmate populations at correctional facilities and in those
populations that are most likely to come in contact with inmates in
a correctional environment.
(b) The center shall emphasize preventive programs that
emphasize risk situations and risk behaviors.
(c) In developing and implementing programs under this
chapter, the center:
(1) shall work with state and local correctional
health agencies, including providers of correctional health care
and the public health section of the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice health services division; and
(2) may work with the American Correctional
Association, the American Correctional Health Services
Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and
organizations representing inmates.
(d) The center shall:
(1) develop and implement preventive education and
risk reduction programs;
(2) perform behavioral interventions;
(3) perform health screenings and provide early
intervention or care;
(4) provide immunizations where available;
(5) assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions
and demonstration projects;
(6) assess the impact of correctional programs on
community health;
(7) provide graduate and continuing education in
correctional public health and infectious diseases;
(8) evaluate demonstration projects in correctional
institutions and disseminate the results; and
(9) carry out joint research projects with
correctional administrations.
(e) The center shall carry out research and training, with
specific funded fellowship positions being available for
correctional staff to spend a semester or longer or to undertake
graduate education in the area within the center.
(f) Not later than September 1 of each year, the center
shall file a report with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
the legislature, and the governor, containing the center's policy
recommendations for preventing and reducing communicable diseases
in inmate populations at correctional facilities and in those
populations that are most likely to come in contact with inmates in
a correctional environment.
Sec. 115.006. EMPLOYEES OF CENTER. The center shall employ
full-time and part-time faculty members of the University of Texas
Health Science Center at Houston. The faculty members must have
research interests in issues relating to public health and disease
prevention in correctional institutions, including:
(1) HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis B
and C, and tuberculosis;
(2) substance abuse;
(3) health promotion and health education;
(4) program evaluation;
(5) health policy;
(6) criminology and criminal justice;
(7) correctional health care and treatment; or
(8) other relevant areas.
SECTION ____. Not later than December 1, 2007, the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice shall appoint members to the
governing board of the Center for Correctional Public Health and
Health Promotion as required by Section 115.003, Health and Safety
Code, as added by this Act. In making the initial appointments to
the governing board, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall
designate two members for terms expiring February 1, 2008, and two
members for terms expiring February 1, 2009.