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Senate Bill 1489 |
Senate Author: Whitmire et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-11 |
House Sponsor: Madden |
Senate Bill 1489 amends the Family Code to include among the conditions that must exist for a juvenile court to waive its exclusive original jurisdiction and transfer a child alleged to have engaged in truancy to certain other courts that the child is 12 years of age or older. The bill specifies the period that a dispositional order regarding conduct indicating a need for supervision involving truancy is effective and limits the maximum period for such an order. A county, justice, or municipal court exercising jurisdiction over a juvenile alleged to have engaged in truancy is included among the entities to whom the Department of Public Safety is authorized to disseminate information contained in the juvenile justice information system.
Senate Bill 1489 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to require a county, justice, or municipal court to dismiss the complaint against an individual alleging that the individual committed the offense of failure to attend school if the court finds that the individual has successfully complied with the conditions imposed on the individual by the court or the individual presents to the court proof that the individual has obtained a high school diploma or a high school equivalency certificate. The bill authorizes such a court to waive or reduce a fee or court cost imposed during such proceedings if the court finds that payment of the fee or court cost would cause financial hardship. A court is required to expunge an individual's conviction of failure to attend school and records relating to a conviction if the court finds that the individual has successfully complied with the conditions imposed on the individual by the court or, before the individual's 21st birthday, the individual presents to the court proof that the individual has obtained a high school diploma or a high school equivalency certificate. The bill prohibits a municipality, justice court, county court, or county court at law that does not employ a juvenile case manager from collecting a juvenile case manager fee from a defendant convicted of a fine-only misdemeanor offense in the respective court.
Senate Bill 1489 amends the Education Code to add to the conditions that constitute the offense of failure to attend school that the individual committing the offense be 12 years of age or older and younger than 18 years of age. The bill requires a school district to adopt truancy prevention measures, requires each referral or complaint alleging a failure to attend school to be accompanied by a statement from the student's school certifying that the school applied the required truancy prevention measures to the student and that such measures failed to meaningfully address the student's school attendance, and requires each such referral to specify whether the student is eligible for or receives special education services.