By: Gallego (Senate Sponsor - Carona) H.B. No. 3691
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 16, 2011;
May 16, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 21, 2011, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 1;
May 21, 2011, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 3691 By: Carona
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to community supervision and corrections departments and
community justice plans.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 76.002, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (f) to read as
follows:
(e) The board shall [may] adopt rules allowing departments
to contract with one another for services or facilities or to
contract as provided by Subsection (f).
(f) In lieu of establishing a department as required by
Subsection (a), programs and services may be provided under this
chapter in a judicial district through a contract with a department
established for another judicial district.
SECTION 2. Section 76.003(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) A council should consist of the following persons or
their designees:
(1) a sheriff of a county served by the department,
chosen by the sheriffs of the counties to be served by the
department;
(2) a county commissioner or a county judge from a
county served by the department, chosen by the county commissioners
and county judges of the counties served by the department;
(3) a city council member of the most populous
municipality in a county served by the department, chosen by the
members of the city councils of cities served by the department;
(4) not more than two state legislators elected from a
county served by the department, or in a county with a population of
one million or more to be served by the department, not more than
one state senator and one state representative elected from the
county, chosen by the state legislators elected from the county or
counties served by the department;
(5) the presiding judge from a judicial district
served by the department, chosen by the district judges from the
judicial districts served by the department;
(6) a judge of a statutory county court exercising
criminal jurisdiction in a county served by the department, chosen
by the judges of statutory county courts with criminal jurisdiction
in the counties served by the department;
(7) a county attorney with criminal jurisdiction from
a county served by the department, chosen by the county attorneys
with criminal jurisdiction from the counties served by the
department;
(8) a district attorney or criminal district attorney
from a judicial district served by the department, chosen by the
district attorneys or criminal district attorneys from the judicial
districts served by the department; [and]
(9) an elected member of the board of trustees of an
independent school district in a county served by the department,
chosen by the members of the boards of trustees of independent
school districts located in counties served by the department; and
(10) the department director.
SECTION 3. Chapter 492, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 492.017 to read as follows:
Sec. 492.017. LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST.
(a) The board shall require the department to submit each
legislative appropriations request, accompanied by the most recent
report prepared by the community justice assistance division of the
department under Section 509.004(c), to the board for approval
before the department submits the appropriations request to the
Legislative Budget Board.
(b) In deciding whether to approve a legislative
appropriations request submitted under Subsection (a), the board
shall consider the most recent report prepared by the community
justice assistance division of the department under Section
509.004(c).
SECTION 4. Chapter 493, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 493.0081 to read as follows:
Sec. 493.0081. LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST. The
department shall include in each legislative appropriations
request submitted to the Legislative Budget Board the information
contained in the most recent report prepared by the community
justice assistance division under Section 509.004(c).
SECTION 5. Section 509.004, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (c), (d), and (e) to read as follows:
(c) The division shall prepare a report that contains a
detailed summary of the programs and services provided by
departments, as described in each community justice plan submitted
to the division under Section 509.007. The report must include:
(1) all financial information relating to the programs
and services described in each community justice plan; and
(2) information concerning the amount of state aid and
funding that is not state aid used to support each program or
service provided by a department.
(d) As soon as is practicable after the completion of the
report, the division shall submit the report prepared under
Subsection (c) to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and the
executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
(e) Not later than the date on which the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice is required to submit the department's legislative
appropriations request to the Legislative Budget Board, the
division shall submit the report prepared under Subsection (c) to
the Legislative Budget Board.
SECTION 6. Section 509.007, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 509.007. COMMUNITY JUSTICE PLAN. (a) The division
shall require as a condition to payment of state aid to a department
or county under Section 509.011 and eligibility for payment of
costs under Section 499.124 that a community justice plan be
submitted for the department. The community justice council shall
submit the plan required by this subsection. A community justice
council may not submit a plan under this section unless the plan is
first approved by the judges described by Section 76.002 who
established the department served by the council. The council
shall submit a revised plan to the division each even-numbered
[odd-numbered] year not later than March 1 [by a date designated by
the division]. A plan may be amended at any time with the approval
of the division.
(b) A community justice plan required under this section
must include:
(1) a statement of goals and priorities and of
commitment by the community justice council, the judges described
by Section 76.002 who established the department, and the
department director to achieve a targeted level of alternative
sanctions;
(2) a description of methods for measuring the success
of programs provided by the department or provided by an entity
served by the department; [and]
(3) a proposal for the use of state jail felony
facilities and, at the discretion of the community justice council,
a regional proposal for the construction, operation, maintenance,
or management of a state jail felony facility by a county, a
community supervision and corrections department, or a private
vendor under a contract with a county or a community supervision and
corrections department;
(4) a description of the programs and services the
department provides or intends to provide, including a separate
description of any programs or services the department intends to
provide to enhance public safety, reduce recidivism, strengthen the
investigation and prosecution of criminal offenses, improve
programs and services available to victims of crime, and increase
the amount of restitution collected from persons supervised by the
department; and
(5) an outline of the department's projected
programmatic and budgetary needs, based on the programs and
services the department both provides and intends to provide.
SECTION 7. Chapter 509, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 509.0071 to read as follows:
Sec. 509.0071. COMMITMENT REDUCTION PLAN. (a) In addition
to submitting a community justice plan to the division under
Section 509.007, a department or a regional partnership of
departments may submit a commitment reduction plan to the division
not later than the 60th day after the date on which the time for
gubernatorial action on the state budget has expired under Section
14, Article IV, Texas Constitution.
(b) A commitment reduction plan submitted under this
section may contain a request for additional state funding in the
manner described by Subsection (e). A commitment reduction plan
must contain:
(1) a target number by which the county or counties
served by the department or regional partnership of departments
will, relative to the number of individuals committed in the
preceding state fiscal year from the county or counties to the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice for offenses not listed in or
described by Section 3g, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure,
reduce that number in the fiscal year for which the commitment
reduction plan is submitted by reducing the number of:
(A) direct sentencing commitments;
(B) community supervision revocations; or
(C) direct sentencing commitments and community
supervision revocations;
(2) a calculation, based on the most recent Criminal
Justice Uniform Cost Report published by the Legislative Budget
Board, of the savings to the state that will result from the county
or counties reaching the target number described by Subdivision
(1);
(3) an explanation of the programs and services the
department or regional partnership of departments intends to
provide using any funding received under Subsection (e)(1),
including any programs or services designed to enhance public
safety, reduce recidivism, strengthen the investigation and
prosecution of criminal offenses, improve programs and services
available to victims of crime, and increase the amount of
restitution collected from persons supervised by the department or
regional partnership of departments;
(4) a pledge by the department or regional partnership
of departments to provide accurate data to the division at the time
and in the manner required by the division;
(5) a pledge to repay to the state, not later than the
30th day after the last day of the state fiscal year in which the
lump-sum award is made, a percentage of the lump sum received under
Subsection (e)(1) that is equal to the percentage by which the
county or counties fail to reach the target number described by
Subdivision (1), if the county or counties do not reach that target
number; and
(6) if the commitment reduction plan is submitted by a
regional partnership of departments, an agreement and plan for the
receipt, division, and administration of any funding received under
Subsection (e).
(c) For purposes of Subsection (b)(5), if the target number
contained in the commitment reduction plan is described by
Subsection (b)(1)(B), the county or counties fail to reach the
target number if the sum of any increase in the number of direct
sentencing commitments and any reduction in community supervision
revocations is less than the target number contained in the
commitment reduction plan.
(d) A pledge described by Subsection (b)(4) or (5) must be
signed by:
(1) the director of the department submitting the
commitment reduction plan; or
(2) if the commitment reduction plan is submitted by a
regional partnership of departments, a director of one of the
departments in the regional partnership submitting the commitment
reduction plan.
(e) After reviewing a commitment reduction plan, if the
division is satisfied that the plan is feasible and would achieve
desirable outcomes, the division may award to the department or
regional partnership of departments:
(1) a one-time lump sum in an amount equal to 35
percent of the savings to the state described by Subsection (b)(2);
and
(2) on a biennial basis, and from the 65 percent of the
savings to the state that remains after payment of the lump sum
described by Subdivision (1), the following incentive payments for
the department's or regional partnership's performance in the two
years immediately preceding the payment:
(A) 15 percent, for reducing the percentage of
persons supervised by the department or regional partnership of
departments who commit a new felony while under supervision;
(B) five percent, for increasing the percentage
of persons supervised by the department or regional partnership of
departments who are not delinquent in making any restitution
payments; and
(C) five percent, for increasing the percentage
of persons supervised by the department or regional partnership of
departments who are gainfully employed, as determined by the
division.
(f) A department or regional partnership of departments may
use funds received under Subsection (e) to provide any program or
service that a department is authorized to provide under other law,
including implementing, administering, and supporting
evidence-based community supervision strategies, electronic
monitoring, substance abuse and mental health counseling and
treatment, specialized community supervision caseloads,
intermediate sanctions, victims' services, restitution collection,
short-term incarceration in county jails, specialized courts,
pretrial services and intervention programs, and work release and
day reporting centers.
(g) Any funds received by a department or regional
partnership of departments under Subsection (e):
(1) are in addition to any per capita or formula
funding received under Section 509.011; and
(2) may not be deducted from any per capita or formula
funding received or to be received by:
(A) another department, if the commitment
reduction plan is submitted by a department; or
(B) any department, if the commitment reduction
plan is submitted by a regional partnership of departments.
(h) The division shall deduct from future state aid paid to
a department, or from any incentive payments under Subsection
(e)(2) for which a department is otherwise eligible, an amount
equal to the amount of any pledge described by Subsection (b)(5)
that remains unpaid on the 31st day after the last day of the state
fiscal year in which a lump-sum award is made under Subsection
(e)(1). If the lump-sum award was made to a regional partnership of
departments, the division shall deduct, in accordance with the
agreement and plan described by Subsection (b)(6), the amount of
the unpaid pledge from the future state aid to each department that
is part of the partnership or from any incentive payments under
Subsection (e)(2) for which the regional partnership of departments
is otherwise eligible.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
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