By Thompson H.B. No. 2498
74R2633 GCH-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to a program to provide grants to local agencies for the
1-3 prevention of juvenile crime and the rehabilitation of juvenile
1-4 offenders.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 9B, Texas Public Finance Authority Act
1-7 (Article 601d, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by adding
1-8 Subsection (c) to read as follows:
1-9 (c) The authority has the exclusive power to issue general
1-10 obligation bonds, the proceeds of the sale of which are required to
1-11 be deposited in the juvenile crime initiative fund for the purposes
1-12 provided by Subchapter F, Chapter 141, Human Resources Code. The
1-13 total principal amount of bonds to be issued under this subsection
1-14 may not exceed $12 million. The Texas Juvenile Probation
1-15 Commission shall provide the authority a schedule for
1-16 implementation of the grant program provided by Subchapter F,
1-17 Chapter 141, Human Resources Code, and the authority shall issue
1-18 the bonds for the program in a manner that coincides with the
1-19 implementation schedule, except to the extent that the authority
1-20 determines that a particular timing for a bond offer would not be
1-21 economically prudent.
1-22 SECTION 2. Chapter 141, Human Resources Code, is amended by
1-23 adding Subchapter F to read as follows:
1-24 SUBCHAPTER F. JUVENILE CRIME INITIATIVE GRANT PROGRAM
2-1 Sec. 141.101. ESTABLISHMENT OF GRANT PROGRAM. The
2-2 commission shall develop and implement a program to provide grants
2-3 to eligible applicants for projects designed to prevent juvenile
2-4 crime or rehabilitate juvenile offenders. The commission shall
2-5 administer the program using amounts in the juvenile crime
2-6 initiative fund.
2-7 Sec. 141.102. ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS. A municipality, county,
2-8 municipal or county nonprofit corporation, or a nonprofit
2-9 organization within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the
2-10 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. Section 501) is eligible
2-11 to apply for a grant under the program implemented under this
2-12 subchapter.
2-13 Sec. 141.103. GRANT REQUIREMENTS. (a) The maximum amount
2-14 of a grant awarded under this subchapter is $250,000 to a local
2-15 government or local government nonprofit corporation and $150,000
2-16 to any other nonprofit organization.
2-17 (b) An applicant for a grant under this subchapter must
2-18 provide the commission a commitment from a source other than the
2-19 commission for at least one-third of the cost of a proposed
2-20 project.
2-21 (c) Each grant awarded under this subchapter is for a
2-22 two-year period and is nonrenewable. The commission shall
2-23 distribute 40 percent of the amount of the grant awarded in the
2-24 first year of the project and 60 percent in the second year.
2-25 Sec. 141.104. ELIGIBLE PROJECTS. (a) The commission shall
2-26 adopt standards for projects for which grants may be awarded under
2-27 this subchapter. The standards shall be designed to reward
3-1 innovative approaches to the problems of juvenile crime and
3-2 rehabilitation.
3-3 (b) Eligible projects for grants under this subchapter may
3-4 be designed to provide early intervention for youth at risk of
3-5 becoming juvenile offenders, rehabilitation of minor juvenile
3-6 offenders or first-time felony juvenile offenders, alternatives to
3-7 incarceration for juvenile offenders, or otherwise to prevent or
3-8 abate juvenile crime.
3-9 (c) An eligible project may provide boot camps, electronic
3-10 monitoring or house arrest, counseling, self-esteem and leadership
3-11 training, sensitivity training, violence avoidance training, work
3-12 and job skills training, job interviewing and work preparation
3-13 training, parenting classes, wilderness survival training, truancy
3-14 monitoring or enforcement, parental responsibility training,
3-15 restitution or community service programs, temporary group homes,
3-16 shock detention centers, or other services, training, or
3-17 supervision approved by the commission.
3-18 (d) For purposes of this subchapter, a project may include
3-19 an expansion of an existing, permanent program.
3-20 Sec. 141.105. ADMINISTRATION AND AUDITING. (a) The
3-21 commission may pay expenses of administering the grant program from
3-22 amounts in the juvenile crime initiative fund, but the amounts used
3-23 for that purpose from the fund may not exceed:
3-24 (1) for the first fiscal year of the program, .35
3-25 percent of the total amount of grants awarded in that year; or
3-26 (2) for each subsequent fiscal year, .15 percent of
3-27 the total amount of grants awarded in that year.
4-1 (b) Each grant recipient shall administer or supervise the
4-2 grant project and shall provide the commission an audit of the
4-3 expenditure of the grant not later than the 60th day after the date
4-4 the grant terminates.
4-5 (c) The commission shall evaluate each project at the end of
4-6 the grant period and, based on the aggregate of its evaluations,
4-7 may recommend to the legislature the initiation, expansion,
4-8 reduction, or elimination of state funding for local projects and
4-9 programs for juvenile offenders.
4-10 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect on the date on which a
4-11 constitutional amendment proposed by the 74th Legislature at its
4-12 regular session authorizing the issuance of general obligation
4-13 bonds for grants for local programs to combat juvenile crime takes
4-14 effect. If that amendment is not approved by the voters, this Act
4-15 has no effect.
4-16 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
4-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.