By: Crockett H.B. No. 3463
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to determining the residence of incarcerated persons.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 16.21, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 16.21. DUTY OF SHERIFF AS TO PRISONERS. (a) Every
sheriff shall keep safely a person committed to the sheriff's [his]
custody. The sheriff [He] shall use no cruel or unusual means to
secure this end, but shall adopt all necessary measures to prevent
the escape of a prisoner. The sheriff [He] may summon a guard of
sufficient number, in case it becomes necessary to prevent an
escape from jail, or the rescue of a prisoner.
(b) A sheriff shall take all practical measures to obtain
and record the following information from a person committed to the
sheriff's custody:
(1) the age, gender, and race of each person and
whether the person is of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, if
known; and
(2) the current address or location at which the
person resides.
(c) If a sheriff is unable to obtain the information
described by Subsection (b), the sheriff shall make a record of that
fact.
(d) Information described by Subsections (b) and (c) is
confidential and not subject to required disclosure under Chapter
552, Government Code.
SECTION 2. Section 1.015(e), Election Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(e) A person [who is an inmate in a penal institution or] who
is an involuntary inmate in a health care, detention, [hospital] or
eleemosynary institution, including a hospital, rehabilitation
center, substance abuse treatment center, psychiatric facility,
prison, jail, or detention center, does not, solely because the
person is [while] an inmate, acquire residence at the place where
the institution is located. Notwithstanding any other law, a
person described by this subsection retains residency at the
location of the person's residence before becoming an inmate and
may register to vote or remain registered to vote at that location
if the person is otherwise eligible to vote in the jurisdiction of
the person's residence. A person who is an inmate and who does not
have a residence outside of the institution at which the person is
held may, notwithstanding any other law, register to vote at the
institution provided that the person is otherwise eligible to vote
in the jurisdiction in which the institution is located. A person
who registers to vote at an institution in the manner provided by
this subsection loses residence at that institution once the person
is released from the institution and acquires a new residence.
SECTION 3. Section 2058.002, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 2058.002. EXCEPTIONS. (a) The legislature or the
Legislative Redistricting Board under Article III, Section 28, of
the Texas Constitution may officially recognize or act on a federal
decennial census as adjusted under Section 2058.003 before
September 1 of the year after the calendar year during which the
census was taken.
(b) A political subdivision governed by a body elected from
single-member districts may recognize and act on tabulations of
population of a federal decennial census as adjusted under Section
2058.003, for redistricting purposes, as soon as those adjusted
tabulations become available [on or after the date the governor
receives a report of the basic tabulations of population from the
secretary of commerce under 13 U.S.C. Section 141(c)]. This
subsection does not apply to a political subdivision that was not
subject to a statute requiring certain political subdivisions,
classified by population, to elect their governing bodies from
single-member districts under the preceding federal census.
SECTION 4. Chapter 2058, Government Code, is amended by
adding Sections 2058.003 and 2058.004 to read as follows:
Sec. 2058.003. INCLUSION OF INCARCERATED PERSONS IN CENSUS
COUNTS. (a) Not later than the 14th day following the date on which
the tract-level population counts for this state from the federal
decennial census are released by the director of the Bureau of the
Census of the United States Department of Commerce, the
comptroller, in coordination with the Texas Demographic Center, the
Texas Legislative Council, and the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice, shall prepare and disseminate adjusted population counts
for each geographic unit included in the census counts as provided
by this section.
(b) Not later than June 1 of the year in which the federal
decennial census is conducted, each state or local governmental
entity in this state that operates a facility for the incarceration
of persons convicted of a criminal offense, including a mental
health institution for those persons, or that places any person
convicted of a criminal offense in a private facility to be
incarcerated on behalf of the governmental entity, shall submit a
report to the comptroller with the following information:
(1) a unique identifier, not including the name, for
each person incarcerated in a facility operated by the governmental
entity or in a private facility on behalf of the governmental entity
on the date for which the census reports population who completed a
census form, responded to a census inquiry, or was included in any
report provided to census officials, if the form, response, or
report indicated that the person resided at the facility on that
date;
(2) the age, gender, and race of each person included
in the report and whether the person is of Hispanic, Latino, or
Spanish origin, if known; and
(3) the last address at which the person resided
before the person's current incarceration.
(c) Each governmental entity required to make a report under
Subsection (b) shall ensure that the entity collects and maintains
the information required to make the report. The comptroller, in
coordination with the correctional institutions division of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice, shall prescribe procedures
that a governmental entity shall use to permit each person included
in the report to indicate the person's race and ethnicity for
purposes of Subsection (b)(2) in a manner similar to the manner in
which a person not incarcerated would indicate the person's race
and ethnicity for the federal decennial census.
(d) The comptroller shall request each agency that operates
a federal facility in this state that incarcerates persons
convicted of a criminal offense to provide the comptroller with a
report including the information listed in Subsection (b) for
persons convicted of an offense in this state.
(e) For each person included in a report received under
Subsection (b) or (d), the comptroller, in coordination with the
Texas Demographic Center, the Texas Legislative Council, and the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice, shall determine the
geographic units for which population counts are reported in the
federal decennial census that contain the last address at which the
person resided before the person's incarceration according to the
report and, if that address is in this state:
(1) adjust all relevant population counts reported in
the census, including populations by age, gender, race, and
Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, as if the person resided at
that address on the day for which the census reports population; and
(2) eliminate the person from all applicable
population counts reported in the federal decennial census for the
geographic units that include the facility at which the person was
incarcerated on the day for which the census reports population.
(f) The information required to be included in a report
under Subsection (b) or (d) is confidential and not subject to
required disclosure under Chapter 552. This subsection does not
apply to information aggregated by geographic census unit that does
not disclose the address of or other information that might
identify an individual.
Sec. 2058.004. USE OF ADJUSTED CENSUS COUNTS FOR
REDISTRICTING. (a) Each state and local governmental entity,
including any board or commission, that is responsible for drawing
districts for any elected office in this state on the basis of
population, including any federal, state, or local elected office,
shall use the adjusted population counts prepared by the
comptroller under Section 2058.003 to determine the population of
geographic units.
(b) Each political subdivision of this state that elects any
members of a governmental body from election districts, wards, or
precincts that are subject to the one-person, one-vote requirement
of the Constitution of the United States shall ensure that after
redistricting each of those election districts, wards, or precincts
does not vary from the average population of those districts,
wards, or precincts according to the most recent adjusted
population counts prepared by the comptroller under Section
2058.003 by more than five percent.
(c) A state governmental body, including the legislature,
the Legislative Redistricting Board, or any state court, that
redistricts any election districts subject to the one-person,
one-vote requirement of the Constitution of the United States shall
comply with the restriction provided by Subsection (b).
(d) To the extent of any conflict between Subsection (b) or
(c) and another state or federal law requiring a deviation of less
than five percent for an election district, the other law controls.
(e) A governmental entity to which this section applies may
exceed the adjusted population restrictions required by this
section only to the extent necessary to comply with federal law or
the Texas Constitution.
(f) This section does not apply to any political subdivision
or state governmental body before the comptroller makes the initial
adjustment of census counts under Section 2058.003.
SECTION 5. Section 151.317, Tax Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (c-1) to read as
follows:
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (c-1), in [In] this
section, "residential use" means use:
(1) in a family dwelling or in a multifamily apartment
or housing complex or building or in a part of a building occupied
as a home or residence when the use is by the owner of the dwelling,
apartment, complex, or building or part of the building occupied;
or
(2) in a dwelling, apartment, house, or building or
part of a building occupied as a home or residence when the use is by
a tenant who occupies the dwelling, apartment, house, or building
or part of a building under a contract for an express initial term
for longer than 29 consecutive days.
(c-1) The term "residential use" does not include use in a
health care or detention facility, including a hospital,
rehabilitation center, substance abuse treatment center,
psychiatric facility, prison, jail, or other detention center, or
use by the owner or operator of the health care or detention
facility.
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 January 1, 2022.