By: West S.B. No. 1419
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to funding for juvenile case managers through certain
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. Subsections (a) and (c), Article 45.056, 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:
(1) shall [to] assist the court in administering the
court's juvenile docket and in supervising its court orders in
juvenile cases; and
(2) may provide:
(A) prevention services to a child considered at
risk of entering the juvenile justice system; and
(B) intervention services to juveniles engaged
in misconduct prior to cases being filed, excluding traffic
offenses.
SECTION 2. 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 in municipal or justice court of an
offense, other than an offense relating to a pedestrian or the
parking of a motor vehicle, shall pay as a court cost $2 in addition
to other court costs.
(c) For purposes of this article, a person is considered to
have been convicted if:
(1) a sentence is imposed; or
(2) the defendant receives deferred disposition in the
case.
(d) 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 or
municipal treasury, as applicable.
(e) The custodian of a county treasury or municipal
treasury, as applicable, 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, except that the
custodian may retain 50 percent of funds collected under this
article for the purpose of operating or establishing a juvenile
case manager program, if the county or municipality has established
or is attempting to establish a juvenile case manager program.
(f) If no funds due as costs under this article are
deposited in a county treasury or municipal 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.
(g) 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 criminal justice division of the governor's office for
distribution to local governmental entities for truancy prevention
and intervention services.
(h) A local governmental entity may request funds from the
criminal justice division of the governor's office for providing
truancy prevention and intervention services. The division may
award the requested funds based on the availability of appropriated
funds and subject to the application procedure and eligibility
requirements specified by division rule.
(i) Funds collected under this article are subject to audit
by the comptroller.
SECTION 3. Subchapter B, Chapter 103, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 103.034 to read as follows:
Sec. 103.034. MISCELLANEOUS COURT COSTS: TRUANCY
PREVENTION AND DIVERSION FUND. Court costs of $2 for the truancy
prevention and diversion fund established under Article 102.015,
Code of Criminal Procedure, shall be collected under that article.
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act.
An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is
covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of
this section, an offense is committed before the effective date of
this Act if any element of the offense was committed before that
date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.