81R10105 NC-F
By: Martinez H.B. No. 3247
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a county to contract with a private
organization for the operation of a detention facility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 351.101, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 351.101. AUTHORITY TO CONTRACT. (a) Except as
provided by Subsections (b) and (c), the [The] commissioners court
of a county, with the approval of the sheriff of the county, may
contract with a private organization to place inmates in a
detention facility operated by the organization.
(b) The commissioners court may not contract with a private
organization in which a member of the court or an elected or
appointed peace officer who serves in the county has a financial
interest or in which an employee or commissioner of the Commission
on Jail Standards has a financial interest. A contract made in
violation of this subsection [section] is void.
(c) In a county that has adopted Chapter 174, the
commissioners court of the county may not contract with a private
organization to place inmates in a detention facility operated by
the organization unless the county is granted the authority to
enter into such a contract in a collective bargaining agreement
entered into between the county and the employees of the sheriff's
department under Chapter 174. A contract made in violation of this
subsection is void.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a contract entered into on or after the effective date of this
Act. A contract entered into before the effective date of this Act
is governed by the law in effect when the contract was entered into,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.