88R9736 MCF-F
 
  By: Geren H.B. No. 2620
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the confinement in a county jail of a person pending a
  transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and to
  compensation to a county for certain costs of confinement.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 499.071, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 499.071.  SCHEDULED ADMISSIONS POLICY. The board shall
  adopt and enforce a scheduled admissions policy that requires
  [permits] the department [institutional division] to:
               (1)  review and certify documents delivered to the
  department as required by Section 8(b), Article 42.09, Code of
  Criminal Procedure, not later than the third day after the date of
  receiving the documents; and
               (2)  accept persons [inmates] within the time period
  [45 days of processing as] required by Section 499.1215(b)
  [499.121(c)].
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter F, Chapter 499, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 499.1215 to read as follows:
         Sec. 499.1215.  TRANSFER TO DEPARTMENT; COMPENSATION TO
  COUNTIES. (a) In this section, "cost of confinement" means the
  cost to the county for a person's confinement based on the average
  daily cost of confining a person in the county jail, as determined
  by the commissioners court of the county.
         (b)  The department shall take custody of a person awaiting
  transfer to the department following conviction of a felony not
  later than the 45th day following the date on which all documents
  required by Sections 8(a) and (c), Article 42.09, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, have been received by the department and certified as
  provided by Section 8(b) of that article.
         (c)  If the department does not take custody of a person
  within the period prescribed by Subsection (b), the department
  shall compensate the county in an amount equal to the sum of:
               (1)  125 percent of the cost of confinement for each day
  that the person remains confined in the county jail following the
  expiration of the period prescribed by Subsection (b);
               (2)  the cost of confinement for each day for the period
  beginning on the date on which the department received the
  documents required by Sections 8(a) and (c), Article 42.09, Code of
  Criminal Procedure, and ending on the date on which the department
  certified the documents as provided by Section 8(b) of that
  article; and
               (3)  the cost to the county for all medical, behavioral
  health, and pharmaceutical care provided to the person while
  confined beginning on the date on which the department received the
  documents required by Sections 8(a) and (c), Article 42.09, Code of
  Criminal Procedure.
         SECTION 3.  Section 499.121(c), Government Code, is
  repealed.
         SECTION 4.  Not later than September 30, 2023, the Texas
  Board of Criminal Justice shall adopt the scheduled admissions
  policy required by Section 499.071, Government Code, as amended by
  this Act.
         SECTION 5.  Section 499.1215, Government Code, as added by
  this Act, applies only to compensation to a county for the costs
  described by that section related to the confinement of a person
  that occurs on or after October 1, 2023, regardless of whether the
  requirements under that section for transfer of the person to the
  Texas Department of Criminal Justice are completed before, on, or
  after that date.
         SECTION 6.  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, 2023.