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House Bill 2496 |
House Author: Gonzalez, Naomi et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-11 |
Senate Sponsor: Carona |
House Bill 2496 amends the Family Code to establish a teen dating violence court program designed to educate children who engage in dating violence and deter them from engaging in that conduct. The bill authorizes a juvenile court, on the recommendation of the prosecuting attorney, to defer adjudication proceedings for not more than 180 days if a child is a first offender who is alleged to have engaged in conduct involving dating violence that violated a misdemeanor-grade state penal law, requires such a child to complete a teen dating violence court program approved by the court and applicable county commissioners court not later than the last day of the deferral period and appear in court once a month for monitoring purposes, and requires the court to dismiss the case with prejudice on the child's successful completion of the program. The bill authorizes a court to require a child who participates in a teen dating violence court program to pay a fee not to exceed $10 to cover the costs of administering the program and an additional fee of $10 to cover the cost to the program for performing its duties and requires the court to track certain program-related statistics. The bill amends the Government Code to make a conforming change relating to the program fees.