Bill Text: TX HB4207 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to private vendors for correctional facilities and services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-21 - Left pending in committee [HB4207 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB4207-Introduced.html
By: Murr | H.B. No. 4207 |
|
||
|
||
relating to private vendors for correctional facilities and | ||
services. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Sec. 495.001. AUTHORITY TO CONTRACT. is amended | ||
to read as follows: | ||
(a) The board may contract with a private vendor or with the | ||
commissioners court of a county for the financing, construction, | ||
facility. | ||
(b) A facility operated, maintained, and managed under this | ||
subchapter by a |
||
(1) hold not more than an average daily population of | ||
(2) comply with federal constitutional standards and | ||
applicable court orders; and | ||
(3) receive and retain, as an individual facility, | ||
accreditation from the American Correctional Association. | ||
(c) A facility authorized by this subchapter may be located | ||
on private land or on land owned by the state or a political | ||
subdivision of the state. The board may accept land donated for that | ||
purpose. | ||
|
||
|
||
under this subchapter that will provide the institutional division | ||
with secure regionally based correctional facilities designed to | ||
successfully reintegrate inmates into society through preparole, | ||
prerelease, work release, and prison industries programs. | ||
|
||
before December 1, 1991, was operated, maintained, and managed | ||
under this subchapter by a |
||
more than an average daily population of 500 inmates, unless the | ||
commissioners court of the county in which the facility is located | ||
expresses in a resolution on the subject that the limit on | ||
population imposed by this subsection should not apply to the | ||
facility. | ||
(f) Any contract that is in existence between the state and | ||
a private vendor for operation or management of a secure | ||
correctional facility as of December 31, 2020, shall remain valid | ||
until it expires on its own terms, without invoking any additional | ||
renewal provisions. | ||
Sec. 495.002. INMATES. The institutional division may | ||
confine only minimum or medium security inmates in a facility | ||
authorized by this subchapter. An inmate confined in a facility | ||
authorized by this subchapter remains in the legal custody of the | ||
institutional division . | ||
Sec. 495.003. CONTRACT PROPOSALS; QUALIFICATIONS AND | ||
STANDARDS. (a) The board may not award a contract under this | ||
subchapter unless the board requests proposals and receives a | ||
proposal that meets or exceeds, in addition to requirements | ||
specified in the request for proposals, the requirements specified | ||
in Subsections (b), (c), |
||
(b) A person proposing to enter a contract with the board | ||
under this subchapter must demonstrate: | ||
(1) the qualifications and the operations and | ||
management experience to carry out the terms of the contract; and | ||
(2) the ability to comply with the standards of the | ||
American Correctional Association and with specific court orders. | ||
(c) In addition to meeting the requirements specified in the | ||
requests for proposals, a proposal must: | ||
(1) provide for regular, on-site monitoring by the | ||
institutional division; | ||
(2) acknowledge that payment by the state is subject | ||
to the availability of appropriations; | ||
(3) provide for payment of a maximum amount per | ||
biennium; | ||
(4) offer a level and quality of programs at least | ||
equal to those provided by state-operated facilities that house | ||
similar types of inmates and at a cost that provides the state with | ||
a savings of not less than 10 percent of the cost of housing inmates | ||
in similar facilities and providing similar programs to those types | ||
of inmates in state-operated facilities; | ||
(5) permit the state to terminate the contract for | ||
cause, including as cause the failure of the private vendor or | ||
county to meet the conditions required by this subchapter and other | ||
conditions required by the contract; | ||
(6) provide that cost adjustments may be made only | ||
once each fiscal year, to take effect at the beginning of the next | ||
fiscal year; | ||
(7) have an initial contract term of not more than | ||
three years, with an option to renew for additional periods of two | ||
years; | ||
(8) if the proposal includes construction of a | ||
facility, contain a performance bond approved by the board that is | ||
adequate and appropriate for the proposed contract; | ||
(9) provide for assumption of liability by |
||
performed under the contract by the private vendor or county; | ||
(10) provide for an adequate plan of insurance for the | ||
agents against all claims, including claims based on violations of | ||
civil rights arising from the services performed under the contract | ||
by the |
||
(11) provide for an adequate plan of insurance to | ||
protect the state against all claims arising from the services | ||
performed under the contract by the |
||
protect the state from actions by a third party against the |
||
result of the contract; | ||
(12) provide plans for the purchase and assumption of | ||
operations by the state in the event of |
||
under the contract; and | ||
(13) contain comprehensive standards for conditions | ||
of confinement. | ||
(d) Before the commissioners court of a county proposes to | ||
enter into a contract under this subchapter, the commissioners | ||
court of the county must receive the written approval of the sheriff | ||
of the county. A sheriff may not unreasonably withhold written | ||
approval under this subsection. A correctional facility provided by | ||
a county under this subchapter is subject to the same standards and | ||
requirements as a correctional facility provided by a private | ||
vendor. | ||
(e) The Legislative Budget Board determines the costs and | ||
cost savings under Subsection (c)(4) and may consider any relevant | ||
factor, including additional costs to the state for providing the | ||
same service as a |
||
allocable to either the state or |
||
continuing costs to the state directly associated with the | ||
contract. | ||
Sec. 495.004. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OVER INMATES. A | ||
this subchapter may not: | ||
(1) compute inmate release and parole eligibility | ||
dates; | ||
(2) award good conduct time; | ||
(3) approve an inmate for work, medical, or temporary | ||
furlough or for preparole transfer; or | ||
(4) classify an inmate or place an inmate in less | ||
restrictive custody than the custody ordered by the institutional | ||
division. | ||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Sec. 495.007. LIMITATION. The board may not enter into | ||
contracts under this subchapter for more than |
||
Sec. 495.008. AUDITING AND MONITORING CONTRACTS. (a) The | ||
department shall develop a comprehensive methodology for enhanced | ||
auditing and monitoring of all facilities operated under contract | ||
with the department that house inmates of the department and | ||
releasees under the supervision of the department. To achieve this | ||
objective, the department shall first review existing auditing, | ||
monitoring, and oversight capabilities of the department to | ||
determine what further procedures and resources are necessary to | ||
achieve this goal. | ||
(b) The department shall ensure that all new and renewed | ||
contracts described by Subsection (a) include: | ||
(1) a provision that the department or a designee of | ||
the department may conduct periodic contract compliance reviews, | ||
without advance notice, to monitor vendor performance; | ||
(2) minimum acceptable standards of performance | ||
prescribed by the department that include provisions regarding the | ||
health, safety, and welfare of inmates and releasees; | ||
(3) a provision that if a review determines that a | ||
department may require that the county's |
||
compensation be withheld until the county |
||
requirements or the vendor is replaced; | ||
(4) a provision requiring a vendor not in compliance | ||
with the contract to implement a plan of corrective action approved | ||
by the department; and | ||
(5) a provision under which the state is indemnified | ||
for costs of litigation and for any damages in lawsuits alleging | ||
that the health, safety, or welfare of an inmate or releasee in a | ||
contract facility is not protected. | ||
(c) The department shall complete at least one enhanced | ||
audit for each facility described by Subsection (a) |
||
The enhanced audit must include an enhanced contract compliance | ||
review of any vendors hired by a community supervision and | ||
corrections department to operate a facility. | ||
(d) The department, in conjunction with an advisory | ||
committee composed of state officials |
||
requirements of this section. | ||
(e) The department shall develop an appeals process, | ||
incorporated by reference into all new and renewed contracts, under | ||
which a county |
||
contract, with the appeals process including the right to a formal | ||
hearing and a right to a final determination by the board. | ||
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |