By: Ellis S.B. No. 1201
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to including offenders committed to the Texas Youth
1-2 Commission in Project Rio (Reintegration of Offenders).
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Sec. 217.002, Labor Code, is amended to read as
1-5 follows:
1-6 Sec. 217.002. Project Rio. The project for reintegration of
1-7 offenders is a statewide employment referral program designed to
1-8 reintegrate into the labor force persons formerly confined in the
1-9 institutional division and persons committed to the Texas Youth
1-10 Commission.
1-11 SECTION 2. Sec. 217.003, Labor Code, is amended to read as
1-12 follows:
1-13 Sec. 217.003. Administration. The department, the Texas
1-14 Youth Commission, and the commission shall cooperate to maximize
1-15 the effectiveness of Project RIO. For that purpose, the commission
1-16 shall administer the project.
1-17 SECTION 3. Sec. 217.004, Labor Code, is amended to read as
1-18 follows:
1-19 Sec. 217.004. Memorandum of Understanding--Adoption.
1-20 (a) The department and the commission and the Texas Youth
1-21 Commission and the commission shall each adopt a memorandum of
1-22 understanding that establishes the respective responsibilities of
1-23 each agency and of the divisions within the department.
2-1 (b) The commission shall coordinate the development of the
2-2 memoranda <memorandum> of understanding. The department and the
2-3 Texas Youth Commission shall adopt rules as necessary to implement
2-4 their respective <the> memorandum and may amend the memorandum and
2-5 those rules as necessary.
2-6 SECTION 4. Sec. 217.005, Labor Code, is amended to read as
2-7 follows:
2-8 Sec. 217.005. Memorandum of Understanding--Contents.
2-9 (a) The memorandum of understanding between the department and the
2-10 commission must establish the role of:
2-11 (1) the institutional division in ascertaining and
2-12 encouraging an inmate's chances for employment by:
2-13 (A) providing vocational and educational
2-14 assessment for the person while incarcerated in the division;
2-15 (B) developing a skills enhancement program for
2-16 the person while incarcerated, in cooperation with other
2-17 governmental, educational, and private entities, using available
2-18 public or private financial resources authorized by statute; and
2-19 (C) referring the person on release to the
2-20 project through the person's parole officer;
2-21 (2) the community justice assistance division and the
2-22 pardons and paroles division of the department in:
2-23 (A) encouraging and referring persons to the
2-24 project; and
2-25 (B) ensuring that those persons participate in
3-1 the project and avail themselves of its services; and
3-2 (3) the commission in developing and maintaining a
3-3 statewide network for finding positions of employment that require
3-4 the skills possessed by project participants and in helping those
3-5 participants to secure employment.
3-6 (b) The memorandum also must establish the methods by which
3-7 the commission shall coordinate its efforts under this chapter with
3-8 the operations of service providers operating under Chapter 301
3-9 (Texas Job-Training Partnership Act).
3-10 (c) The memorandum of understanding between the Texas Youth
3-11 Commission and the commission must establish the roles of the
3-12 institutional and community services divisions in the Texas Youth
3-13 Commission and the role of the commission in the same manner the
3-14 roles of the department and commission are established under
3-15 Subsections (a) and (b) of this section.
3-16 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
3-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.