82R7881 KCR-F
By: Carona S.B. No. 1055
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to reports concerning and the reporting of the use of
certain funds by community supervision and corrections departments
and to the preparation of commitment reduction plans by those
departments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. 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 2. 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 3. 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 4. 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 5. 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 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 (c). A commitment reduction plan
must contain:
(1) a target number by which the county or counties
served by the department will, relative to the number of
individuals committed to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
from the county or counties in the preceding state fiscal year,
reduce the number of individuals committed to the Texas Department
of Criminal Justice from the county or counties during the state
fiscal biennium for which the commitment reduction plan is
submitted;
(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 intends to provide using any funding received by the
department under Subsection (c)(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;
(4) a pledge by the department to provide accurate
data to the division at the time and in the manner required by the
division; and
(5) a pledge to repay the state a percentage of the
lump sum received under Subsection (c)(1) that is equal to the
percentage by which the department fails to reach the target number
described by Subdivision (1), if the department does not reach that
target number.
(c) After reviewing a commitment reduction plan submitted
by a department, if the division is satisfied that the commitment
reduction plan is feasible and would achieve desirable outcomes,
the division may award to the department:
(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 biannual 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 performance in the six months immediately
preceding the payment:
(A) 15 percent, for reducing the percentage of
persons supervised by the department who commit a new felony while
under the supervision of the department;
(B) five percent, for increasing the percentage
of persons supervised by the department who are not delinquent in
making any restitution payments; and
(C) five percent, for increasing the percentage
of persons supervised by the department who are gainfully employed,
as determined by the division.
(d) A department may use funds received under Subsection (c)
to provide any program or service that the 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.
(e) Any funds received by a department under Subsection (c)
are in addition to any per capita or formula funding received by the
department under Section 509.011.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.