By Turner H.B. No. 1180
74R5252 GWK-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to providing employment services and other information to
1-3 persons formerly confined in the institutional division or the
1-4 state jail division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 5.01, Workforce and Economic
1-7 Competitiveness Act (Article 5190.7a, Vernon's Texas Civil
1-8 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-9 Sec. 5.01. Workforce Development Centers. A local workforce
1-10 development board shall establish workforce development centers
1-11 accessible to students, workers, persons formerly confined in the
1-12 institutional division or the state jail division of the Texas
1-13 Department of Criminal Justice, and employers throughout the
1-14 workforce development area. Each center shall provide access to
1-15 information and services available in the workforce development
1-16 area and shall address the individual needs of students, workers,
1-17 persons formerly confined in the institutional division or state
1-18 jail division, and employers. The services available at a center
1-19 shall be tailored to meet individual needs and shall include the
1-20 following:
1-21 (1) labor market information, including the skills of
1-22 the area workforce, available job openings, and the education,
1-23 training, and employment opportunities in the local area, in the
1-24 state, and as feasible, in the nation;
2-1 (2) common intake and eligibility determination for
2-2 all workforce development programs and services;
2-3 (3) independent assessment of individual needs and the
2-4 development of an individual service strategy;
2-5 (4) centralized and continuous case management and
2-6 counseling;
2-7 (5) individual referral for services including basic
2-8 education, classroom skills training, on-the-job training, and
2-9 customized training; <and>
2-10 (6) supportive services, including child care, loans,
2-11 and other forms of financial assistance required to participate in
2-12 and complete training; and
2-13 (7) job training and employment assistance for persons
2-14 formerly confined in the institutional division or the state jail
2-15 division, provided in cooperation with Project Rio.
2-16 SECTION 2. Chapter 217, Labor Code, is amended by adding
2-17 Section 217.007 to read as follows:
2-18 Sec. 217.007. PROVISION OF INFORMATION ON STATE SERVICES FOR
2-19 EX-OFFENDERS AND EMPLOYERS. (a) To assist in the reintegration
2-20 into the labor force of persons formerly confined in the
2-21 institutional division or the state jail division, the commission
2-22 through Project Rio shall provide:
2-23 (1) to those persons:
2-24 (A) information from local workforce development
2-25 boards on job training and employment referral services;
2-26 (B) information from the Texas Commission on
2-27 Alcohol and Drug Abuse on substance abuse treatment services;
3-1 (C) information from the Texas Department of
3-2 Housing and Community Affairs on housing services;
3-3 (D) information from the Texas Veterans
3-4 Commission on services for veterans; and
3-5 (E) information from the Texas Department of
3-6 Human Services on tax refund voucher programs under Subchapter D,
3-7 Chapter 31, Human Resources Code; and
3-8 (2) to the employers and potential employers of those
3-9 persons:
3-10 (A) information from the Texas Department of
3-11 Commerce on the enterprise zone program and smart jobs fund
3-12 program; and
3-13 (B) information from local workforce development
3-14 boards on services listed in Section 4.05(a), Workforce and
3-15 Economic Competitiveness Act (Article 5190.7a, Vernon's Texas Civil
3-16 Statutes).
3-17 (b) The commission shall adopt a memorandum of understanding
3-18 with each of the following agencies that establishes the respective
3-19 responsibilities of the commission and the agencies in providing
3-20 information described by Subsection (a) to persons formerly
3-21 confined in the institutional division or the state jail division
3-22 of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, to employers or
3-23 potential employers of those persons, and to local workforce
3-24 development boards:
3-25 (1) the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse;
3-26 (2) the Texas Department of Housing and Community
3-27 Affairs;
4-1 (3) the Texas Veterans Commission;
4-2 (4) the Texas Department of Human Services;
4-3 (5) the Texas Department of Commerce; and
4-4 (6) the Council on Workforce and Economic
4-5 Competitiveness.
4-6 (c) The commission shall coordinate the development of the
4-7 memoranda of understanding and shall prepare an annual report
4-8 describing the number of ex-offenders in the preceding year
4-9 receiving services under each memorandum. The commission shall
4-10 file a copy of the annual report with the governor's office.
4-11 SECTION 3. Section 481.158, Government Code, is amended to
4-12 read as follows:
4-13 Sec. 481.158. TRAINEES. The program shall give priority to
4-14 residents of this state, including residents formerly confined in
4-15 the institutional division or the state jail division of the Texas
4-16 Department of Criminal Justice.
4-17 SECTION 4. Section 497.094, Government Code, is amended to
4-18 read as follows:
4-19 Sec. 497.094. Job Training Programs. (a) The institutional
4-20 division and the pardons and paroles division by rule shall adopt a
4-21 memorandum of understanding that establishes the respective
4-22 responsibility of the institutional division to implement job
4-23 training programs for inmates and of the pardons and paroles
4-24 division to monitor the success of those programs. The memorandum
4-25 must establish a method by which the pardons and paroles division
4-26 provides the institutional division with information relating to
4-27 the employment histories of inmates released from the institutional
5-1 division on parole and mandatory supervision. The institutional
5-2 division shall coordinate the development of the memorandum of
5-3 understanding.
5-4 (b) The department and the Council on Workforce and Economic
5-5 Competitiveness by rule shall adopt a memorandum of understanding
5-6 that establishes the respective responsibility of those entities to
5-7 provide through local workforce development boards job training and
5-8 employment assistance to persons formerly confined in the
5-9 institutional division or the state jail division and information
5-10 on services available to employers or potential employers of those
5-11 persons. The department shall coordinate the development of the
5-12 memorandum of understanding.
5-13 SECTION 5. Section 13, Article 42.131, Code of Criminal
5-14 Procedure, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (c) to read
5-15 as follows:
5-16 (a) A department, with the assistance of the Texas
5-17 Employment Commission, the Council on Workforce and Economic
5-18 Competitiveness, local workforce development boards <public school
5-19 districts, community and public junior colleges, public and private
5-20 institutions of higher education>, and other appropriate public and
5-21 private entities, may establish a developmental program for a
5-22 defendant under the supervision of the department on the basis of
5-23 information obtained in the presentence investigation report
5-24 prepared for the defendant.
5-25 (c) To decrease expenditures by community supervision and
5-26 corrections departments for the educational and vocational skills
5-27 assessment and enhancement program established under this section,
6-1 the Texas Department of Commerce shall provide information to
6-2 departments, the Texas Employment Commission, the Council on
6-3 Workforce and Economic Competitiveness, local workforce development
6-4 boards <public school districts, community and public junior
6-5 colleges, public and private institutions of higher education>, and
6-6 other appropriate public and private entities for obtaining
6-7 financial assistance through Chapter 301, Labor Code (<the> Texas
6-8 Job-Training Partnership Act <(Article 4413(52), Vernon's Texas
6-9 Civil Statutes>) and other applicable programs of public or private
6-10 entities.
6-11 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
6-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-16 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-17 passage, and it is so enacted.