HBA-NLM C.S.H.B. 2846 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2846 By: Brimer County Affairs 4/11/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, county sheriffs have the exclusive authority to operate a commissary for the use of prisoners of the county jail. According to a 1991 attorney general opinion (DM-67), county commissioners courts are prohibited from interfering with a sheriff's exercise of discretion in contracting under Section 351.0415 (Commissary Operation by Sheriff), Local Government Code. However, commissioners courts are authorized to order the county auditor to examine jail commissary accounts more than once a year. C.S.H.B. 2846 requires the sheriff of a county to provide the commissioners court of the county each contract the sheriff makes under this section relating to the commissary. This bill requires the sheriff to provide the contract within 10 days after the date the contract is made. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 351.0415, Local Government Code, by adding Subsection (e), as follows: (e) Requires the sheriff of a county to provide the commissioners court of the county each contract the sheriff makes under this section relating to the county jail commissary. Requires the sheriff to provide the contract within 10 days after the date the contract is made. SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2846 modifies the original in the caption. The caption of the substitute reads "relating to a requirement that a county sheriff provide to the commissioners court of the county certain contract regarding the county jail commissary." C.S.H.B. 2846 modifies the original in SECTION 1 (proposed Section 531.0415(e), Local Government Code) by deleting language limiting the applicability of this subsection to a county which has a population of one million or more and contains two or more cities each with a population of 250,000 or more.