87R6235 JRR-F
	By: White	H.B. No. 1398

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to the verification of the veteran status of prisoners
	confined in county jails.
	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 a county jail to:
	(A)  determine if a prisoner is pregnant;
	(B)  ensure that the jail's health services plan
	addresses medical care, including obstetrical and gynecological
	care, mental health care, nutritional requirements, and any special
	housing or work assignment needs for prisoners who are known or
	determined to be pregnant; and
	(C)  identify when a pregnant prisoner is in labor
	and provide appropriate care to the prisoner, including promptly
	transporting the prisoner to a local hospital;
	(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 during the intake process 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; and
	(C)  submit a daily report identifying each
	prisoner whose veteran status was verified under Paragraph (A)
	during the previous day to the Texas Veterans Commission and, as
	applicable, the veterans county service officer for the county and
	each court in which charges against a prisoner identified in the
	report are pending;
	(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;
	(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; and
	(24)  adopt reasonable rules and procedures
	establishing minimum standards for the quantity and quality of
	feminine hygiene products, including tampons in regular and large
	sizes and menstrual pads with wings in regular and large sizes,
	provided to a female prisoner.
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.