HBA-TBM H.B. 2540 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2540 By: Farrar Corrections 4/8/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, halfway houses serve an invaluable role in the rehabilitation of convicted offenders. Often located within residential neighborhoods, these facilities help reintegrate offenders into society. This reintegration and the neighborhood may be threatened by the establishment of numerous halfway houses in the same area. A proliferation of correctional and rehabilitation facilities in a single neighborhood may invite an element of unrehabilitated criminals that threatens the goals of the halfway houses, endangers the community, and lowers property values in the neighborhood. House Bill 2540 prohibits the construction or operation of a correctional or rehabilitation facility within 3,000 feet of an existing facility. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 2540 amends the Local Government Code to prohibit an agency of the state, a political subdivision of the state, or a private vendor operating under a contract with an agency or political subdivision of the state from constructing or operating a correctional or rehabilitation facility (facility) within 3,000 feet of another facility. This Act does not apply to a facility that is in operation, under construction, under contract for operation or construction, or planned for construction on the effective date of this Act. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.