HBA-NIK H.B. 2123 76(R)    
BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2123
By: Solomons
Corrections
4/1/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, prisoners arrested on blue warrants are detained at county jails
until a revocation hearing takes place.  These blue-warrant arrests are due
to administrative violations such as failed urinalysis tests or unpaid
fees.  The financial impact to county jails of bed, board, and additional
costs of medical care and civil litigation associated with these inmates is
significant.  The sheriff's department is required by the state to
apprehend and hold prisoners on parole revocation warrants, but this
mandate is not funded by the state, and is a significant strain on some of
the county jails' budgeted resources.  H.B. 2123 entitles compensation from
the state to county jails that hold a bluewarrant inmate for longer than
two days to compensation from the state. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Article 104.002, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding
Subsection (e), as follows: 

(e) Provides that a county that confines an inmate who is the subject of a
warrant issued under Section 508.251 (Issuance of Warrant or Summons),
Government Code, or an inmate who is awaiting transfer to the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice (department) after a determination by a
parole panel or a designee of the of the Board of Pardons and Paroles under
Section 508.283 (Sanctions), Government Code, is entitled to receive
compensation from the state for each day the inmate is confined in county
jail, other than the first two days.  
_Requires the county to promptly inform the department that the inmate
described by this subsection is confined in the jail.  

_Provides that the department has a duty to take custody of an inmate as
soon as the department receives notice under this subsection of the
confinement of the inmate in the county jail.   

_Authorizes the department to contract with a county to provide for the
custody and care of an inmate.  

_Requires the county judge, on the first day of each quarter of a county's
fiscal year, to certify to the comptroller of public accounts each inmate
and, for each inmate, the number of days during the preceding fiscal
quarter for which the county is entitled to compensation under this
subsection.   

_Requires the comptroller to issue to the commissioners court of the county
a warrant in an amount computed for the preceding fiscal quarter by
multiplying $35 by the total number of days certified by the county judge
for all inmates or, if the comptroller determines that the total number of
days certified by the county judge is  inaccurate, by the total number of
days determined by the comptroller to be an accurate statement of the days
to which the county is entitled to compensation. 

SECTION 2.  Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.