By De La Garza                                         H.B. No. 952
       74R3276 KLL-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to county programs to mentor and counsel juveniles found
    1-3  to have engaged in conduct indicating a need for supervision.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subtitle B, Title 11, Local Government Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Chapter 353 to read as follows:
    1-7       CHAPTER 353.  PROGRAMS FOR JUVENILES NEEDING SUPERVISION
    1-8        Sec. 353.001.  PROGRAM FOR JUVENILES NEEDING SUPERVISION.  A
    1-9  county may create a program in which volunteers mentor and counsel
   1-10  juveniles who are found to have engaged in conduct indicating a
   1-11  need for supervision.
   1-12        Sec. 353.002.  ELIGIBILITY FOR STATE FUNDS.  A county that
   1-13  establishes a mentoring and counseling program under this chapter
   1-14  is eligible to receive state funds from the Texas Juvenile
   1-15  Probation Commission:
   1-16              (1)  to be used for expenses related to the program,
   1-17  including the salary of the executive director to administer the
   1-18  program; and
   1-19              (2)  in an amount equal to the amount spent by the
   1-20  county on the program but not to exceed $10,000.
   1-21        Sec. 353.003.  APPLICATION FOR STATE FUNDS.  (a)  A county
   1-22  that is eligible for state funds under this chapter must submit an
   1-23  application to the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission describing
   1-24  the mentoring and counseling program and detailing the amount of
    2-1  money the county has spent or is obligated to spend under the
    2-2  program.
    2-3        (b)  The Texas Juvenile Probation Commission may require a
    2-4  county to submit additional information if necessary to make an
    2-5  eligibility determination.
    2-6        Sec. 353.004.  APPLICATION DEADLINES.  The Texas Juvenile
    2-7  Probation Commission, by rule, may establish annual application
    2-8  submission dates to qualify for consideration for funds to be
    2-9  distributed for a fiscal year.
   2-10        Sec. 353.005.  PAYMENT OF STATE FUNDS.  The Texas Juvenile
   2-11  Probation Commission shall pay a county submitting an application
   2-12  under this chapter from funds appropriated to the commission for
   2-13  that purpose and may pay only a portion of the amount claimed if
   2-14  the amount appropriated is insufficient to pay all claims submitted
   2-15  or anticipated under this chapter.
   2-16        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-17  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-18  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-19  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-20  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-21  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-22  passage, and it is so enacted.