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Senate Bill 213 |
Senate Author: Whitmire et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-13 |
House Sponsor: Price |
Senate Bill 213 amends the Government Code to continue the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) until September 1, 2021. The bill requires TDCJ to adopt the comprehensive reentry and reintegration plan it developed, expands the requirements of the plan and establishes requirements for the plan's regular evaluation and update, and requires TDCJ, in consultation with the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Windham School District, to establish the role of each entity in providing reentry and reintegration services. The bill requires each facility under the oversight of TDCJ's correctional institutions division to establish a case management committee to assess each inmate and ensure the inmate is receiving appropriate services or participating in appropriate programs, prescribes procedures for complying with that requirement, and establishes the required membership of the committees. The bill requires TDCJ to adopt a standardized instrument to assess the risk and needs of each adult offender and requires TDCJ's community justice assistance division to require each community supervision and corrections department to assess each defendant using the instrument at the time of initial placement on community supervision and at other required times. The bill expands the membership of TDCJ's reentry task force and imposes new duties on the task force.
Senate Bill 213 amends provisions relating to the functions of the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee to expand the committee's membership, require the committee to approve the managed health care plan that the committee developed for all persons confined by TDCJ, revise the requirements for the plan and the committee's general powers and duties, and transfer to TDCJ the committee's duty to establish a network of physicians and hospitals that serve as TDCJ's exclusive health care provider for confined persons. The bill details TDCJ's powers and duties in contracting with entities to implement the managed health care plan, requires TDCJ to report certain correctional health care cost and use information to the Legislative Budget Board and the governor, and expands the entities with which TDCJ may cooperate in developing training for corrections medication aides to include any medical school. The bill requires TDCJ to establish an individual treatment plan, rather than a proposed program of institutional progress, for an inmate admitted to TDCJ's institutional division, establishes the information required to be included in the plan, and requires TDCJ to annually review each inmate's plan and revise or update the plan as necessary. The bill repeals provisions requiring TDCJ to conduct a recidivism study and to make quarterly reports regarding the substance abuse felony program. The bill establishes requirements for TDCJ's community justice assistance division in awarding grants to community supervision and corrections departments and requires the division to study performance-based funding, including reviewing state community supervision funding formulas and making recommendations for modifying current funding formulas, and to seek input from the departments and other relevant interest groups in performing the study.
Senate Bill 213 amends provisions relating to the function of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. The bill requires the board to establish and maintain a range of recommended parole approval rates for each category or score within the parole guidelines, updates provisions regarding the review and reporting of guidelines and rates, and removes provisions relating to a deviation from parole guidelines. The bill establishes notification requirements for each decision of a parole panel granting or denying the release of an inmate on parole or denying release on mandatory supervision. The bill authorizes any required parole or mandatory supervision-related hearing to be conducted by a designated agency of the board that may make recommendations to the parole panel that has responsibility for making a final determination.
Senate Bill 213 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to establish that the judgment in a criminal case should reflect whether a victim impact statement was returned to the attorney representing the state and to revise court procedures relating to such a returned statement. The bill requires TDCJ's victim services division, in consultation with the Board of Pardons and Paroles and other participants in the criminal justice system, to develop recommendations to ensure completed victim impact statements are submitted to TDCJ and revises procedures relating to the use of an impact statement in a defendant's sentencing.
Senate Bill 213 amends the Education Code to subject the Windham School District to sunset review during the period in which TDCJ is reviewed and to provide for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the district's programs through the collection and analysis of various program data. The bill requires the district to use this data to evaluate the progress of its programs and make necessary changes and provides for the district's collaboration with certain state agencies to obtain and share data.