84R12114 LEH-F
By: RodrÃguez S.B. No. 1333
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the secure confinement of certain children.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 51.12(j), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(j) After being taken into custody, a child who is at least
14 years of age may be detained in a secure detention facility until
the child is released under Section 53.01, 53.012, or 53.02 or until
a detention hearing is held under Section 54.01(a), regardless of
whether the facility has been certified under Subsection (c), if:
(1) a certified juvenile detention facility is not
available in the county in which the child is taken into custody;
(2) the detention facility complies with:
(A) the short-term detention standards adopted
by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Probation Commission];
and
(B) the requirements of Subsection (f); and
(3) the detention facility has been designated by the
county juvenile board for the county in which the facility is
located.
SECTION 2. Section 54.04(o), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(o) In a disposition under this title:
(1) a status offender may not, under any
circumstances, be committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice
Department [Youth Commission] for engaging in conduct that would
not, under state or local law, be a crime if committed by an adult;
(2) a status offender may not, under any circumstances
other than as provided under Subsection (n), be placed in a
post-adjudication secure correctional facility; [and]
(3) a child adjudicated for contempt of a county,
justice, or municipal court order may not, under any circumstances,
be placed in a post-adjudication secure correctional facility or
committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department [Youth
Commission] for that conduct; and
(4) a child younger than 14 years of age may not, under
any circumstances, be placed in a post-adjudication secure
correctional facility or committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice
Department.
SECTION 3. Section 54.04011(c), Family Code, as added by
Chapter 1323 (S.B. 511), Acts of the 83rd Legislature, Regular
Session, 2013, is amended to read as follows:
(c) After a disposition hearing held in accordance with
Section 54.04, the juvenile court of a county to which this section
applies may commit a child who is at least 14 years of age and who is
found to have engaged in delinquent conduct that constitutes a
felony to a post-adjudication secure correctional facility:
(1) without a determinate sentence, if:
(A) the child is found to have engaged in conduct
that violates a penal law of the grade of felony and the petition
was not approved by the grand jury under Section 53.045;
(B) the child is found to have engaged in conduct
that violates a penal law of the grade of felony and the petition
was approved by the grand jury under Section 53.045 but the court or
jury does not make the finding described by Section 54.04(m)(2); or
(C) the disposition is modified under Section
54.05(f); or
(2) with a determinate sentence, if:
(A) the child is found to have engaged in conduct
that included a violation of a penal law listed in Section 53.045 or
that is considered habitual felony conduct as described by Section
51.031, the petition was approved by the grand jury under Section
53.045, and, if applicable, the court or jury makes the finding
described by Section 54.04(m)(2); or
(B) the disposition is modified under Section
54.05(f).
SECTION 4. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies to
a child who:
(1) is detained or confined on or after the effective
date of this Act; or
(2) on the effective date of this Act is in detention
or confinement.
(b) Subsection (a) of this section applies regardless of
whether the conduct for which the child was detained or confined
occurred before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.