By: West S.B. No. 1419
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to funding for juvenile case managers through certain fees
and court costs and to the establishment of the truancy prevention
and diversion fund.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Articles 45.056(a) and (c), Code of Criminal
Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
(a) On approval of the commissioners court, city council,
school district board of trustees, juvenile board, or other
appropriate authority, a county court, justice court, municipal
court, school district, juvenile probation department, or other
appropriate governmental entity may:
(1) employ a case manager to provide services in cases
involving juvenile offenders who are before a court consistent with
the court's statutory powers or referred to a court by a school
administrator or designee for misconduct that would otherwise be
within the court's statutory powers prior to a case being filed,
with the consent of the juvenile and the juvenile's parents or
guardians; or
(2) agree in accordance with Chapter 791, Government
Code, to jointly employ a case manager.
(c) A county or justice court on approval of the
commissioners court or a municipality or municipal court on
approval of the city council may employ one or more juvenile case
managers who shall [to] assist the court in administering the
court's juvenile docket, [and] in supervising its court orders in
juvenile cases, and may provide prevention services to a child
considered at-risk under Subchapter D, Chapter 264, Family Code,
and intervention services to juveniles engaged in misconduct prior
to cases being filed, excluding traffic offenses.
SECTION 2. Article 102.014(d), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is amended to read as follows:
(d) A person convicted of an offense under Section 25.093
[or 25.094], Education Code, shall pay as taxable court costs $20 in
addition to other taxable court costs. The additional court costs
under this subsection shall be collected in the same manner that
other fines and taxable court costs in the case are collected.
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 102, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended by adding Article 102.015 to read as follows:
Art. 102.015. COURT COSTS: TRUANCY PREVENTION AND DIVERSION
FUND. (a) The truancy prevention and diversion fund is a dedicated
account in the general revenue fund.
(b) A person convicted of an offense under Section 25.094,
Education Code, shall pay as a court cost $20 in addition to other
court costs. The additional court cost under this subsection shall
be collected in the same manner that other fines and court costs in
the case are collected.
(c) Notwithstanding any other law, any court cost payable by
a person convicted of an offense under Section 25.094, Education
Code, shall be deposited to the credit of the truancy prevention and
diversion fund.
(d) For purposes of this article, a person is considered to
have been convicted if:
(1) a sentence is imposed;
(2) the defendant receives community supervision or
deferred adjudication; or
(3) the court defers final disposition of the case.
(e) Court costs under this article are collected in the same
manner as other fines or costs. An officer collecting the costs
shall keep separate records of the funds collected as costs under
this article and shall deposit the funds in the county treasury.
(f) The custodian of a county treasury shall:
(1) keep records of the amount of funds on deposit
collected under this article; and
(2) send to the comptroller before the last day of the
first month following each calendar quarter the funds collected
under this article during the preceding quarter.
(g) If no funds due as costs under this article are
deposited in a county treasury in a calendar quarter, the custodian
of the treasury shall file the report required for the quarter in
the regular manner and must state that no funds were collected.
(h) The comptroller shall deposit the funds received under
this article to the credit of a dedicated account in the general
revenue fund to be known as the truancy prevention and diversion
fund. The legislature may appropriate money from the account only
to the attorney general's office for distribution to fund programs
that use juvenile case managers to provide services for juveniles
who are truants. The attorney general's office shall ensure that
money distributed under this subsection is used for a public
purpose.
(i) Funds collected under this article are subject to audit
by the comptroller.
SECTION 4. Chapter 54, Family Code, is amended by adding
Section 54.0412 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.0412. TRUANCY PREVENTION AND DIVERSION FUND. (a)
If a disposition hearing is held under Section 54.04 of this code
for a child found to have engaged in conduct indicating a need for
supervision based on a violation of Section 25.094, Education Code,
the juvenile court, after giving the child, parent, or other person
responsible for the child's support a reasonable opportunity to be
heard, shall order the child, parent, or other person, if
financially able to do so, to pay a fee as costs of court of $20.
(b) Orders for the payment of fees under this section may be
enforced as provided by Section 54.07 of this code.
(c) An officer collecting costs under this section shall
keep separate records of the funds collected as costs under this
section and shall deposit the funds in the county treasury.
(d) Each officer collecting court costs under this section
shall file the reports required under Article 103.005, Code of
Criminal Procedure. If no funds due as costs under this section
have been collected in any quarter, the report required for each
quarter shall be filed in the regular manner, and the report must
state that no funds due under this section were collected.
(e) The custodian of the county treasury shall keep records
of the amount of funds on deposit collected under this section and
not later than the last day of the month following each calendar
quarter shall send to the comptroller of public accounts the funds
collected under this section during the preceding quarter.
(f) Funds collected are subject to audit by the comptroller
and funds expended are subject to audit by the State Auditor.
(g) The comptroller shall deposit the funds in the truancy
prevention and diversion fund, as created by Article 102.015, Code
of Criminal Procedure.
SECTION 5. Subchapter B, Chapter 103, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 103.034 to read as follows:
Sec. 103.034. MISCELLANEOUS FEES AND COSTS: TRUANCY
PREVENTION AND DIVERSION FUND. A fee for the truancy prevention and
diversion fund established under Article 102.015, Code of Criminal
Procedure, shall be collected under Section 54.0412, Family Code.
SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a fee collected on or after the effective date of this Act. A fee
collected before the effective date of this Act is covered by the
law in effect when the fee was collected, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.