1-1 By: Turner of Harris (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 1180
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 1995;
1-3 May 15, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal
1-4 Justice; May 22, 1995, reported favorably by the following vote:
1-5 Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 22, 1995, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to providing employment services and other information to
1-9 persons formerly sentenced to the institutional division or the
1-10 state jail division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 5.01, Workforce and Economic
1-13 Competitiveness Act (Article 5190.7a, Vernon's Texas Civil
1-14 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-15 Sec. 5.01. Workforce Development Centers. A local workforce
1-16 development board shall establish workforce development centers
1-17 accessible to students, workers, persons formerly sentenced to the
1-18 institutional division or the state jail division of the Texas
1-19 Department of Criminal Justice, and employers throughout the
1-20 workforce development area. Each center shall provide access to
1-21 information and services available in the workforce development
1-22 area and shall address the individual needs of students, workers,
1-23 persons formerly sentenced to the institutional division or state
1-24 jail division, and employers. The services available at a center
1-25 shall be tailored to meet individual needs and shall include the
1-26 following:
1-27 (1) labor market information, including the skills of
1-28 the area workforce, available job openings, and the education,
1-29 training, and employment opportunities in the local area, in the
1-30 state, and as feasible, in the nation;
1-31 (2) common intake and eligibility determination for
1-32 all workforce development programs and services;
1-33 (3) independent assessment of individual needs and the
1-34 development of an individual service strategy;
1-35 (4) centralized and continuous case management and
1-36 counseling;
1-37 (5) individual referral for services including basic
1-38 education, classroom skills training, on-the-job training, and
1-39 customized training; <and>
1-40 (6) supportive services, including child care, loans,
1-41 and other forms of financial assistance required to participate in
1-42 and complete training; and
1-43 (7) job training and employment assistance for persons
1-44 formerly sentenced to the institutional division or the state jail
1-45 division, provided in cooperation with Project Rio.
1-46 SECTION 2. Chapter 217, Labor Code, is amended by adding
1-47 Section 217.007 to read as follows:
1-48 Sec. 217.007. PROVISION OF INFORMATION ON STATE SERVICES FOR
1-49 EX-OFFENDERS AND EMPLOYERS. (a) To assist in the reintegration
1-50 into the labor force of persons formerly sentenced to the
1-51 institutional division or the state jail division, the commission
1-52 through Project Rio shall provide:
1-53 (1) to those persons:
1-54 (A) information from local workforce development
1-55 boards on job training and employment referral services;
1-56 (B) information from the Texas Commission on
1-57 Alcohol and Drug Abuse on substance abuse treatment services;
1-58 (C) information from the Texas Department of
1-59 Housing and Community Affairs on housing services;
1-60 (D) information from the Texas Veterans
1-61 Commission on services for veterans; and
1-62 (E) information from the Texas Department of
1-63 Human Services on tax refund voucher programs under Subchapter D,
1-64 Chapter 31, Human Resources Code; and
1-65 (2) to the employers and potential employers of those
1-66 persons:
1-67 (A) information from the Texas Department of
1-68 Commerce on the enterprise zone program and smart jobs fund
2-1 program; and
2-2 (B) information from local workforce development
2-3 boards on services listed in Section 4.05(a), Workforce and
2-4 Economic Competitiveness Act (Article 5190.7a, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-5 Statutes).
2-6 (b) The commission shall adopt a memorandum of understanding
2-7 with each of the following agencies that establishes the respective
2-8 responsibilities of the commission and the agencies in providing
2-9 information described by Subsection (a) to persons formerly
2-10 sentenced to the institutional division or the state jail division
2-11 of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, to employers or
2-12 potential employers of those persons, and to local workforce
2-13 development boards:
2-14 (1) the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse;
2-15 (2) the Texas Department of Housing and Community
2-16 Affairs;
2-17 (3) the Texas Veterans Commission;
2-18 (4) the Texas Department of Human Services;
2-19 (5) the Texas Department of Commerce; and
2-20 (6) the Council on Workforce and Economic
2-21 Competitiveness.
2-22 (c) The commission shall coordinate the development of the
2-23 memoranda of understanding and shall prepare an annual report
2-24 describing the number of ex-offenders in the preceding year
2-25 receiving services under each memorandum. The commission shall
2-26 file a copy of the annual report with the governor's office.
2-27 SECTION 3. Section 481.158, Government Code, is amended to
2-28 read as follows:
2-29 Sec. 481.158. TRAINEES. The program shall give priority to
2-30 residents of this state, including residents formerly sentenced to
2-31 the institutional division or the state jail division of the Texas
2-32 Department of Criminal Justice.
2-33 SECTION 4. Section 497.094, Government Code, is amended to
2-34 read as follows:
2-35 Sec. 497.094. Job Training Programs. (a) The institutional
2-36 division and the pardons and paroles division by rule shall adopt a
2-37 memorandum of understanding that establishes the respective
2-38 responsibility of the institutional division to implement job
2-39 training programs for inmates and of the pardons and paroles
2-40 division to monitor the success of those programs. The memorandum
2-41 must establish a method by which the pardons and paroles division
2-42 provides the institutional division with information relating to
2-43 the employment histories of inmates released from the institutional
2-44 division on parole and mandatory supervision. The institutional
2-45 division shall coordinate the development of the memorandum of
2-46 understanding.
2-47 (b) The department and the Council on Workforce and Economic
2-48 Competitiveness by rule shall adopt a memorandum of understanding
2-49 that establishes the respective responsibility of those entities to
2-50 provide through local workforce development boards job training and
2-51 employment assistance to persons formerly sentenced to the
2-52 institutional division or the state jail division and information
2-53 on services available to employers or potential employers of those
2-54 persons. The department shall coordinate the development of the
2-55 memorandum of understanding.
2-56 SECTION 5. Section 13, Article 42.131, Code of Criminal
2-57 Procedure, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (c) to read
2-58 as follows:
2-59 (a) A department, with the assistance of the Texas
2-60 Employment Commission, the Council on Workforce and Economic
2-61 Competitiveness, local workforce development boards <public school
2-62 districts, community and public junior colleges, public and private
2-63 institutions of higher education>, and other appropriate public and
2-64 private entities, may establish a developmental program for a
2-65 defendant under the supervision of the department on the basis of
2-66 information obtained in the presentence investigation report
2-67 prepared for the defendant.
2-68 (c) To decrease expenditures by community supervision and
2-69 corrections departments for the educational and vocational skills
2-70 assessment and enhancement program established under this section,
3-1 the Texas Department of Commerce shall provide information to
3-2 departments, the Texas Employment Commission, the Council on
3-3 Workforce and Economic Competitiveness, local workforce development
3-4 boards <public school districts, community and public junior
3-5 colleges, public and private institutions of higher education>, and
3-6 other appropriate public and private entities for obtaining
3-7 financial assistance through Chapter 301, Labor Code (<the> Texas
3-8 Job-Training Partnership Act <(Article 4413(52), Vernon's Texas
3-9 Civil Statutes>) and other applicable programs of public or private
3-10 entities.
3-11 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
3-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-16 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-17 passage, and it is so enacted.
3-18 * * * * *