85R18997 JRR-D
By: Blanco, Minjarez H.B. No. 865
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to establishing a veterans services coordinator for the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a veterans reentry dorm
program for certain state jail defendants confined by the
department.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 501, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 501.025 to read as follows:
Sec. 501.025. VETERANS SERVICES COORDINATOR. (a) The
department shall establish a veterans services coordinator to
coordinate responses to the needs of veterans under the supervision
of the department, including veterans who are released on parole or
mandatory supervision. The veterans services coordinator, with the
cooperation of the community justice assistance division, shall
provide information to community supervision and corrections
departments to help those departments coordinate responses to the
needs of veterans placed on community supervision. The veterans
services coordinator shall coordinate veterans' services for all of
the department's divisions.
(b) The veterans services coordinator, in collaboration
with the attorney general's office, shall provide each incarcerated
veteran a child support modification application.
SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 507, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 507.034 to read as follows:
Sec. 507.034. VETERANS REENTRY DORM PROGRAM. (a) The
department, in coordination with the Texas Veterans Commission,
shall establish and administer a voluntary rehabilitation and
transition program for defendants confined in state jail felony
facilities:
(1) who are veterans of the United States armed
forces, including veterans of the reserves, national guard, or
state guard; and
(2) who suffer from a brain injury, a mental illness, a
mental disorder, including post-traumatic stress disorder, or
substance abuse, or were victims of military sexual trauma, as
defined by Section 124.002, that:
(A) occurred during or resulted from their
military service; and
(B) may have contributed to their criminal
activity.
(b) The program established under this section must:
(1) provide for investigating and verifying the
veteran status of each defendant confined in a state jail felony
facility by using data made available from the Veterans Reentry
Search Service (VRSS) operated by the United States Department of
Veterans Affairs or a similar service;
(2) be available to male defendants and, if resources
are available, female defendants;
(3) include provisions regarding interviewing and
selecting defendants for participation in the program;
(4) allow a defendant to decline participation in the
program or to withdraw from the program at any time;
(5) house defendants participating in the program in
housing that is designed to mimic the squadron structure familiar
to veterans;
(6) coordinate and provide available services and
programming approved by the department, including:
(A) individual and group peer support
programing, as appropriate;
(B) access to military trauma-informed licensed
mental health professional counseling, as appropriate;
(C) evidence-based rehabilitation programming;
and
(D) reemployment services; and
(7) to the extent feasible, not later than the 60th day
before the date a defendant participating in the program is
scheduled for release or discharge from the department:
(A) match the defendant with community-based
veteran peer support services to assist the defendant in
transitioning into the community; and
(B) transfer the defendant to a state jail felony
facility located near the defendant's home community, or the
community in which the defendant intends to reside after the
defendant's release or discharge, to begin establishing transition
relationships with community-based veteran peer support service
providers and family members.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.