Bill Text: TX HB2169 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to reporting concerning female prisoners who are confined in county jails and to the provision of feminine hygiene products to female prisoners.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/19 [HB2169 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB2169-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to reporting concerning female prisoners who are confined in county jails and to the provision of feminine hygiene products to female prisoners.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/19 [HB2169 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB2169-Comm_Sub.html
By: Allen, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Whitmire) | H.B. No. 2169 | |
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 30, 2019; | ||
May 1, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal | ||
Justice; May 9, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable Committee | ||
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 9, 2019, sent | ||
to printer.) | ||
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 2169 | By: Whitmire |
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relating to reporting concerning female prisoners who are confined | ||
in county jails and to the provision of feminine hygiene products to | ||
female prisoners. | ||
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; | ||
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(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 through a telemental health service | ||
24 hours a day; | ||
(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. Section 511.0101(a), Government Code, is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
(a) Each county shall submit to the commission on or before | ||
the fifth day of each month a report containing the following | ||
information: | ||
(1) the number of prisoners confined in the county | ||
jail on the first day of the month, classified on the basis of the | ||
following categories: | ||
(A) total prisoners; | ||
(B) pretrial Class C misdemeanor offenders; | ||
(C) pretrial Class A and B misdemeanor offenders; | ||
(D) convicted misdemeanor offenders; | ||
(E) felony offenders whose penalty has been | ||
reduced to a misdemeanor; | ||
(F) pretrial felony offenders; | ||
(G) convicted felony offenders; | ||
(H) prisoners detained on bench warrants; | ||
(I) prisoners detained for parole violations; | ||
(J) prisoners detained for federal officers; | ||
(K) prisoners awaiting transfer to the | ||
institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice | ||
following conviction of a felony or revocation of probation, | ||
parole, or release on mandatory supervision and for whom paperwork | ||
and processing required for transfer have been completed; | ||
(L) prisoners detained after having been | ||
transferred from another jail and for whom the commission has made a | ||
payment under Subchapter F, Chapter 499, Government Code; | ||
(M) prisoners for whom an immigration detainer | ||
has been issued by United States Immigration and Customs | ||
Enforcement; [ |
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(N) female prisoners; and | ||
(O) other prisoners; | ||
(2) the total capacity of the county jail on the first | ||
day of the month; | ||
(3) the total number of prisoners who were confined in | ||
the county jail during the preceding month, based on a count | ||
conducted on each day of that month, who were known or had been | ||
determined to be pregnant; | ||
(4) the total cost to the county during the preceding | ||
month of housing prisoners described by Subdivision (1)(M), | ||
calculated based on the average daily cost of housing a prisoner in | ||
the county jail; and | ||
(5) certification by the reporting official that the | ||
information in the report is accurate. | ||
SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2019, the Commission | ||
on Jail Standards shall adopt the rules and procedures required by | ||
Section 511.009(a)(24), Government Code, as added by this Act. | ||
SECTION 4. A county shall submit the first report required | ||
by Section 511.0101, Government Code, as amended by this Act, not | ||
later than October 5, 2019. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. | ||
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