HBA-MPA H.B. 2971 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2971
By: Staples
County Affairs
4/11/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, a person may be appointed as a county jailer on a temporary
basis as long as the person completes a preparatory program of training in
the operation of a county jail within one year after the date that the
person is originally appointed.  The limited resources of many counties
make temporary jailers an attractive alternative.  However, there is an
expense in sending the temporary jailers to the required classes and the
time involved in attending classes often restricts the temporary jailers
from becoming certified so that their employment may continue beyond the
first year. 

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division (TDCJ-ID)
facilities train correctional officers to prepare them for their jobs
guarding prison inmates.  TDCJ-ID training is longer and  more intensive to
deal with this prisoner population.  Many counties would like to utilize
correctional officers as part-time, temporary jailers but the hours of
classtime required can take away from the correctional officer's primary
job and often they do not continue as temporary jailers for this reason.
Because correctional officers are trained and certified to deal with
incarcerated individuals the sheriff's department would benefit greatly
from these individuals, who are already qualified under a different law
enforcement standard.  H.B. 2971 allows TDCJ-ID and state jail division
trained and certified correctional officers to be exempt from the training
requirements when seeking part-time employment as a county jailer. 

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 415.054, Government Code, by amending Subsection
(a) and adding Subsection (d), to provide that a person trained and
certified by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to serve as a
corrections officer in that agency's institutional or state jail division
is not required to complete the training requirements under this section
(Appointment of County Jailer) and is not required to be licensed under
Section 415.051 (Appointment; License Requirement) to be appointed a
part-time jailer. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.