By:  Eckels                                           H.B. No. 1018
       72S40014 GWK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to community justice councils monitoring programs provided
    1-3  by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 3(b), Article 42.131, Code of Criminal
    1-6  Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (b)  A community justice council must be established by the
    1-8  district judge or judges in each jurisdiction served by a
    1-9  department, unless a board or council exists in the community on
   1-10  September 1, 1991, that performs duties substantially similar to
   1-11  those imposed on a community justice council under this section.
   1-12  The council shall provide continuing policy guidance and direction
   1-13  for the development of criminal justice plans and community
   1-14  corrections facilities and programs and shall monitor programs
   1-15  provided inmates and releasees by the Texas Department of Criminal
   1-16  Justice, including sex offender and substance abuse treatment
   1-17  programs and education and job training programs.  A council should
   1-18  consist of the following persons or their designees:
   1-19              (1)  a sheriff of a county to be served by the
   1-20  department, chosen by the sheriffs of the counties to be served by
   1-21  the department;
   1-22              (2)  a county commissioner or a county judge from a
   1-23  county to be served by the department, chosen by the county
   1-24  commissioners and county judges of the counties to be served by the
    2-1  department;
    2-2              (3)  a city council member of the most populous
    2-3  municipality in a county to be served by the department, chosen by
    2-4  the members of the city councils of cities to be served by the
    2-5  department;
    2-6              (4)  not more than two state legislators elected from a
    2-7  county to be served by the department, chosen by the state
    2-8  legislators elected from the counties to be served by the
    2-9  department;
   2-10              (5)  the presiding judge from a judicial district to be
   2-11  served by the department, chosen by the district judges from the
   2-12  judicial districts to be served by the department;
   2-13              (6)  a judge of a statutory county court exercising
   2-14  criminal jurisdiction in a county to be served by the department,
   2-15  to be chosen by the judges of statutory county courts with criminal
   2-16  jurisdiction in the counties to be served by the department;
   2-17              (7)  a county attorney with criminal jurisdiction from
   2-18  a county to be served by the department, chosen by the county
   2-19  attorneys with criminal jurisdiction from the counties to be served
   2-20  by the department;
   2-21              (8)  a district attorney or criminal district attorney
   2-22  from a judicial district to be served by the department, chosen by
   2-23  the district attorneys or criminal district attorneys from the
   2-24  judicial districts to be served by the department; and
   2-25              (9)  an elected member of the board of trustees of an
   2-26  independent school district in a county to be served by the
   2-27  department, chosen by the members of the boards of trustees of
    3-1  independent school districts located in counties to be served by
    3-2  the department.
    3-3        SECTION 2.  Chapter 492, Government Code, is amended by
    3-4  adding Section 492.015 to read as follows:
    3-5        Sec. 492.015.  CONSULTATION WITH COMMUNITY JUSTICE COUNCILS.
    3-6  The board shall provide community justice councils established
    3-7  under Section 3(b), Article 42.131, Code of Criminal Procedure, an
    3-8  opportunity to monitor programs provided inmates and releasees by
    3-9  the department, including sex offender and substance abuse
   3-10  treatment programs and education and job training programs.  The
   3-11  board shall consider recommendations made by community justice
   3-12  councils in decisions affecting department programs.
   3-13        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-14  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-15  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-16  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-17  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-18  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-19  passage, and it is so enacted.