Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 3200	House Author:  Madden
Effective:  Vetoed	Senate Sponsor:  Whitmire

            House Bill 3200 amends the Government Code to revise the funding formula used by the community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to fund  community supervision and corrections departments.  The revised funding formula based on a per diem amount for each offender must include:

• a higher per capita rate for a felon who is in the earlier years of community supervision than for a felon who is serving the end term of supervision
• penalties in per capita funding with respect to a felon whose probation has been revoked for a technical violation
• awards in per capita funding with respect to a felon who is released from supervision early

            House Bill 3200 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide that community supervision fees are transferred to the court into whose jurisdiction a defendant on community supervision is transferred.

      Reason Given for Veto: "House Bill No. 3200 would revise the funding formula that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice uses to fund community supervision and correction (probation) departments. This bill is problematic because the revised funding formula provides penalties for each felony defendant whose community supervision is revoked due to a "technical violation." Yet, there is no statutory definition of what constitutes a "technical violation." Just as important, there is no guidance in the bill as to how much of a funding penalty should be applied for these technical violations. Thus, we risk creating a system that has perverse financial incentives which undermine the purpose of probation itself.

      "I encourage both the Legislature and the Board of Criminal Justice to continue looking at ways we can improve the probation funding formula."