By: White of Tyler, Flynn H.B. No. 1930
(Senate Sponsor - Menéndez)
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 2015;
May 12, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
Justice; May 22, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 6, Nays 1; May 22, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to strategic planning for the operation of community
supervision and corrections departments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 76.002(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The district judge or district judges trying criminal
cases in each judicial district and the statutory county court
judges trying criminal cases in the county or counties served by the
judicial district shall:
(1) establish a community supervision and corrections
department; and
(2) approve the department's budget and strategic
[community justice] plan.
SECTION 2. Sections 76.003(a) and (b), Government Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A community justice council may [must] be established by
the commissioners court of a county [judges described by Section
76.002 who are served by a department], unless a board or council
that was in existence on September 1, 1991, is performing duties
substantially similar to those imposed on a community justice
council under this section. The council shall provide continuing
policy guidance and direction for criminal [the development of
community] justice planning [plans and community corrections
facilities], programs, and initiatives [conditions of community
supervision].
(b) A council may [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;
(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. Section 76.006(j), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(j) The attorney general shall defend a statutory county
court judge in an action in state or federal court if:
(1) the cause of action is the result of the judge
performing a duty described by Section 76.002[, 76.003,] or 76.004;
and
(2) the judge requests the attorney general's
assistance in the defense.
SECTION 4. Section 76.010(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) The department may authorize expenditures of funds
provided by the division to the department for the purposes of
providing facilities, equipment, and utilities for community
corrections facilities or state jail felony facilities if:
(1) the judges described by Section 76.002 recommend
[community justice council recommends] the expenditures; and
(2) the division, or the correctional institutions
division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in the case of
a state jail felony facility, provides funds for the purpose of
assisting in the establishment or improvement of the facilities.
SECTION 5. Section 121.002(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) Notwithstanding any other law, a specialty court
program may not operate until the judge, magistrate, or
coordinator:
(1) provides to the criminal justice division of the
governor's office:
(A) written notice of the program;
(B) any resolution or other official declaration
under which the program was established; and
(C) a copy of the applicable strategic [community
justice] plan that incorporates duties related to supervision that
will be required under the program; and
(2) receives from the division written verification of
the program's compliance with Subdivision (1).
SECTION 6. Section 509.001(1), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(1) "Community corrections facility" means a physical
structure, established by the judges described by Section 76.002
after authorization of the establishment of the structure has been
included in a department's strategic [the local community justice]
plan, that is operated by the [a] department or operated for the [a]
department by an entity under contract with the department, for the
purpose of treating persons who have been placed on community
supervision or who are participating in a drug court program
established under Chapter 123 or former law and providing services
and programs to modify criminal behavior, deter criminal activity,
protect the public, and restore victims of crime. The term
includes:
(A) a restitution center;
(B) a court residential treatment facility;
(C) a substance abuse treatment facility;
(D) a custody facility or boot camp;
(E) a facility for an offender with a mental
impairment, as defined by Section 614.001, Health and Safety Code;
and
(F) an intermediate sanction facility.
SECTION 7. Section 509.003(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The division shall propose and the board shall adopt
reasonable rules establishing:
(1) minimum standards for programs, community
corrections facilities and other facilities, equipment, and other
aspects of the operation of departments;
(2) a list and description of core services that
should be provided by each department;
(3) methods for measuring the success of community
supervision and corrections programs, including methods for
measuring rates of diversion, program completion, and recidivism;
(4) a format for strategic [community justice] plans;
and
(5) minimum standards for the operation of substance
abuse facilities and programs funded through the division.
SECTION 8. Sections 509.004(a) and (c), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) The division shall require each department to:
(1) keep financial and statistical records determined
necessary by the division;
(2) submit a strategic [community justice] plan and
all supporting information requested by the division;
(3) present data requested by the division as
necessary to determine the amount of state aid for which the
department is eligible;
(4) submit periodic financial audits and statistical
reports to the division; and
(5) submit to the Department of Public Safety the full
name, address, date of birth, social security number, and driver's
license number of each person restricted to the operation of a motor
vehicle equipped with a device that uses a deep-lung breath
analysis mechanism to make impractical the operation of the motor
vehicle if ethyl alcohol is detected in the breath of the restricted
operator.
(c) The division shall prepare a report that contains a
[detailed] summary of the programs and services provided by
departments, as described in each strategic [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.]
SECTION 9. Section 509.007, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 509.007. STRATEGIC [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 strategic [community
justice] plan be submitted for the department. The department
[community justice council] shall submit the plan required by this
subsection. A department [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 department [council]
shall submit a revised plan to the division each even-numbered year
not later than March 1. A plan may be amended at any time with the
approval of the division.
(b) A strategic [community justice] plan required under
this section must include:
(1) a statement of goals and priorities and of
commitment by the department and [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;
(3) a summary [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
summary [description] of:
(A) any services the department intends to
provide in relation to a specialty court program; and
(B) any programs or other 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
(4) [(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 10. Section 509.0071(a), Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) In addition to submitting a strategic [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.
SECTION 11. Section 509.010(f), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(f) A department, a county, a municipality, or a combination
involving more than one of those entities may not take an action
under Section 76.010 unless the [community justice council serving
the] entity or entities hold [holds] a public meeting before the
action is taken, with notice provided and the hearing to be held in
the same manner as provided by Subsections (a) through (e).
SECTION 12. Sections 509.011(a) and (d), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) If the division determines that a department complies
with division standards and if the department [community justice
council] has submitted a strategic [community justice] plan under
Section 509.007 and the supporting information required by the
division and the division determines the plan and supporting
information are acceptable, the division shall prepare and submit
to the comptroller vouchers for payment to the department as
follows:
(1) for per capita funding, a per diem amount for each
felony defendant directly supervised by the department pursuant to
lawful authority;
(2) for per capita funding, a per diem amount for a
period not to exceed 182 days for each defendant supervised by the
department pursuant to lawful authority, other than a felony
defendant; and
(3) for formula funding, an annual amount as computed
by multiplying a percentage determined by the allocation formula
established under Subsection (f) times the total amount provided in
the General Appropriations Act for payments under this subdivision.
(d) The division shall provide state aid to each department
on a biennial basis, pursuant to the strategic [community justice]
plan for the biennium submitted by the department. A department
with prior division approval may transfer funds from one program or
function to another program or function.
SECTION 13. Sections 499.151(d) and 507.001(e), Government
Code, are repealed.
SECTION 14. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
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