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Senate Bill 1055 |
Senate Author: Carona et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-11 |
House Sponsor: Madden et al. |
Senate Bill 1055 amends the Government Code to require the community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to prepare and submit to specified entities a report that contains a detailed summary of the programs and services provided by community supervision and corrections departments as described in each community justice plan submitted to the division by a department or county. The bill requires the report to include all financial information relating to the programs and services described in each community justice plan and information concerning the amount of state aid and funding that is not state aid used to support each program or service provided by a department. The bill requires the Texas Board of Criminal Justice to consider the division's most recent summary report in deciding whether to approve a TDCJ legislative appropriations request.
Senate Bill 1055 includes among the information required to be in a community justice council's community justice plan a description of the programs and services a community supervision and corrections department provides or intends to provide and an outline of the department's projected programmatic and budgetary needs, based on the programs and services the department both provides and intends to provide, and changes the date by which a council is required to submit the report to the community justice assistance division.
Senate Bill 1055 authorizes a community supervision and corrections department or a regional partnership of departments to submit a commitment reduction plan to the community justice assistance division by a certain date. The bill authorizes a commitment reduction plan to contain a request for additional state funding and requires the plan to contain, among other information, a target number by which the county or counties served by the department or regional partnership will reduce the number of individuals committed from the applicable counties to TDCJ, other than individuals committed for offenses for which a judge is prohibited from ordering community supervision; a calculation of the savings to the state resulting from such a reduction; an explanation of the programs and services to be provided by using an additional lump sum awarded by the division; and a pledge to repay the state a certain percentage of the lump sum. The bill authorizes the division, after reviewing a commitment reduction plan and determining that the plan is feasible and would achieve desirable outcomes, to award to the department or regional partnership a one-time lump-sum payment and certain incentive payments. The division is required to deduct a specified amount from future state aid paid to a department after a lump-sum or incentive payment is awarded and not repaid. The bill expands the membership of a community justice council to include the director of a community supervision and corrections department or the director's designee.