BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4335

By: Ordaz Perez

Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The Texas Judicial Council (TJC) is the policy-making body of the judiciary branch and is statutorily required to collect judicial statistics and other pertinent information from state judges and other court officials. The information collected is currently aggregate data, meaning that it does not provide case-level specificity. The TJC has been working to gain the capacity for case-level reporting and has expressed this need to the legislature during interim testimony.

Jurisdictions in Texas that have implemented court performance tools have reported reductions in wasteful and costly backlogs, cost savings in the form of reductions in the consumption of jail bed days, and reductions in the time for case dispositions. El Paso County is a standout example of the potential that case-level reporting has for both criminal justice policy evaluation and local government cost savings. Since implementing court performance tools in 2015, El Paso County has reported a reduction of approximately 130,000 jail bed days. C.S.H.B. 4335 seeks to provide for a more thorough understanding of the state's court system by requiring the TJC to gather case-level information on the amount and character of the business transacted by courts in Texas.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Judicial Council in SECTION 2 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4335 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Judicial Council (TJC), in gathering judicial statistics and other pertinent information from the several state judges and other court officials of the state, to gather case-level information on the amount and character of the business transacted by courts. The bill requires the TJC to adopt rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 4335 differs from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways by conforming to certain bill drafting conventions.