By: Coleman, Davis of Dallas, Collier H.B. No. 4468
(Senate Sponsor - Whitmire)
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 13, 2019;
May 13, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 17, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 17, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to county jails and community mental health programs in
certain counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 511.009(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The commission shall:
(1) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum standards for the construction, equipment,
maintenance, and operation of county jails;
(2) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum standards for the custody, care, and treatment
of prisoners;
(3) adopt reasonable rules establishing minimum
standards for the number of jail supervisory personnel and for
programs and services to meet the needs of prisoners;
(4) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum requirements for programs of rehabilitation,
education, and recreation in county jails;
(5) revise, amend, or change rules and procedures if
necessary;
(6) provide to local government officials
consultation on and technical assistance for county jails;
(7) review and comment on plans for the construction
and major modification or renovation of county jails;
(8) require that the sheriff and commissioners of each
county submit to the commission, on a form prescribed by the
commission, an annual report on the conditions in each county jail
within their jurisdiction, including all information necessary to
determine compliance with state law, commission orders, and the
rules adopted under this chapter;
(9) review the reports submitted under Subdivision (8)
and require commission employees to inspect county jails regularly
to ensure compliance with state law, commission orders, and rules
and procedures adopted under this chapter;
(10) adopt a classification system to assist sheriffs
and judges in determining which defendants are low-risk and
consequently suitable participants in a county jail work release
program under Article 42.034, Code of Criminal Procedure;
(11) adopt rules relating to requirements for
segregation of classes of inmates and to capacities for county
jails;
(12) require that the chief jailer of each municipal
lockup submit to the commission, on a form prescribed by the
commission, an annual report of persons under 17 years of age
securely detained in the lockup, including all information
necessary to determine compliance with state law concerning secure
confinement of children in municipal lockups;
(13) at least annually determine whether each county
jail is in compliance with the rules and procedures adopted under
this chapter;
(14) require that the sheriff and commissioners court
of each county submit to the commission, on a form prescribed by the
commission, an annual report of persons under 17 years of age
securely detained in the county jail, including all information
necessary to determine compliance with state law concerning secure
confinement of children in county jails;
(15) schedule announced and unannounced inspections
of jails under the commission's jurisdiction using the risk
assessment plan established under Section 511.0085 to guide the
inspections process;
(16) adopt a policy for gathering and distributing to
jails under the commission's jurisdiction information regarding:
(A) common issues concerning jail
administration;
(B) examples of successful strategies for
maintaining compliance with state law and the rules, standards, and
procedures of the commission; and
(C) solutions to operational challenges for
jails;
(17) report to the Texas Correctional Office on
Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments on a jail's compliance
with Article 16.22, Code of Criminal Procedure;
(18) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum requirements for jails to:
(A) determine if a prisoner is pregnant; and
(B) ensure that the jail's health services plan
addresses medical and mental health care, including nutritional
requirements, and any special housing or work assignment needs for
persons who are confined in the jail and are known or determined to
be pregnant;
(19) provide guidelines to sheriffs regarding
contracts between a sheriff and another entity for the provision of
food services to or the operation of a commissary in a jail under
the commission's jurisdiction, including specific provisions
regarding conflicts of interest and avoiding the appearance of
impropriety;
(20) adopt reasonable rules and procedures
establishing minimum standards for prisoner visitation that
provide each prisoner at a county jail with a minimum of two
in-person, noncontact visitation periods per week of at least 20
minutes duration each;
(21) require the sheriff of each county to:
(A) investigate and verify the veteran status of
each prisoner by using data made available from the Veterans
Reentry Search Service (VRSS) operated by the United States
Department of Veterans Affairs or a similar service; and
(B) use the data described by Paragraph (A) to
assist prisoners who are veterans in applying for federal benefits
or compensation for which the prisoners may be eligible under a
program administered by the United States Department of Veterans
Affairs;
(22) adopt reasonable rules and procedures regarding
visitation of a prisoner at a county jail by a guardian, as defined
by Section 1002.012, Estates Code, that:
(A) allow visitation by a guardian to the same
extent as the prisoner's next of kin, including placing the
guardian on the prisoner's approved visitors list on the guardian's
request and providing the guardian access to the prisoner during a
facility's standard visitation hours if the prisoner is otherwise
eligible to receive visitors; and
(B) require the guardian to provide the sheriff
with letters of guardianship issued as provided by Section
1106.001, Estates Code, before being allowed to visit the prisoner;
and
(23) adopt reasonable rules and procedures to ensure
the safety of prisoners, including rules and procedures that
require a county jail to:
(A) give prisoners the ability to access a mental
health professional at the jail or through a telemental health
service 24 hours a day or, if a mental health professional is not at
the county jail at the time, then require the jail to use all
reasonable efforts to arrange for the inmate to have access to a
mental health professional within a reasonable time;
(B) give prisoners the ability to access a health
professional at the jail or through a telehealth service 24 hours a
day or, if a health professional is unavailable at the jail or
through a telehealth service, provide for a prisoner to be
transported to access a health professional; and
(C) if funding is available under Section
511.019, install automated electronic sensors or cameras to ensure
accurate and timely in-person checks of cells or groups of cells
confining at-risk individuals.
SECTION 2. Section 511.011, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 511.011. REPORT ON NONCOMPLIANCE. (a) If the
commission finds that a county jail does not comply with state law,
including Chapter 89, Health and Safety Code, or the rules,
standards, or procedures of the commission, it shall report the
noncompliance to the county commissioners and sheriff of the county
responsible for the county jail and shall send a copy of the report
to the governor.
(b) If a notice of noncompliance is issued to a facility
operated by a private entity under Section 351.101 or 361.061,
Local Government Code, the compliance status of the facility shall
be reviewed at the next meeting of the Commission on Jail Standards.
SECTION 3. Section 511.019(d), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(d) The commission by rule may establish a grant program to
provide grants to counties to fund capital improvements described
by Subsection (c). The commission may only provide a grant to a
county for capital improvements to a county jail with a capacity of
not more than 288 [96] prisoners.
SECTION 4. Section 539.002, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), the [The]
department shall require each entity awarded a grant under this
section to:
(1) leverage additional funding or in-kind
contributions from private sources in an amount that is at least
equal to the amount of the grant awarded under this section;
(2) provide evidence of significant coordination and
collaboration between the entity, local mental health authorities,
municipalities, local law enforcement agencies, and other
community stakeholders in establishing or expanding a community
collaborative funded by a grant awarded under this section; and
(3) provide evidence of a local law enforcement policy
to divert appropriate persons from jails or other detention
facilities to an entity affiliated with a community collaborative
for the purpose of providing services to those persons.
(c) The department may award a grant under this chapter to
an entity for the purpose of establishing a community mental health
program in a county with a population of less than 250,000, if the
entity leverages additional funding from private sources in an
amount equal to one-quarter of the amount of the grant to be awarded
under this section, and the entity otherwise meets the requirements
of Subsections (b)(2) and (3).
SECTION 5. Section 1701.310(b), Occupations Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) A county jailer appointed on a temporary basis who does
not satisfactorily complete the preparatory training program
before the first anniversary of the date that the person is
appointed shall be removed from the position. A county jailer
appointed on a temporary basis shall be enrolled in the preparatory
training program on or before the 90th day after their temporary
appointment. A temporary appointment may not be renewed[, except
that not earlier than the first anniversary of the date that a
person is removed under this subsection, the sheriff may petition
the commission for reinstatement of the person to a temporary
appointment].
SECTION 6. Section 1701.310, Occupations Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) A county jailer appointed on a temporary basis may not
be promoted to a supervisory position in a county jail.
SECTION 7. Not later than January 1, 2020, the Commission on
Jail Standards shall update rules and procedures as necessary to
comply with Section 511.009(a)(23), Government Code, as amended by
this Act.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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