CJ H.B. 1891 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS JUVENILE JUSTICE & FAMILY ISSUES H.B. 1891 By: Patterson 4-11-97 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND The Lamar County Juvenile Board was created by the Legislature to provide adequate juvenile service to the county. Under current law, the board consists of the county judge and the district judges in Lamar County. A statutory county court at law judge is currently being created by legislative process, and this judge needs to be included on the board. Although the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission has promulgated rule 341.4(d) requiring county juvenile probation employees to be paid on the same pay scale as state adult probation employees, neither the state nor the commission has provided funds to pay the salaries. Since the mandated higher salaries would have to be paid from county funds, the Lamar County Commissioners Court should have the authority to determine the salaries and the rate of increase in salaries of all county employees, including those of the Lamar County Juvenile Probation Department. PURPOSE To add the Lamar County Court at Law Judge to the Juvenile Board, and to give the Lamar County Commissioners Court the authority to set the salaries and rate of increase in salaries for juvenile probation officers and employees. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 152.1451, Human Resources Code, by amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) as follows: (a) Adds the Lamar County Court at Law Judge, two county commissioners and one school superintendent to the Lamar County Juvenile Board. (b) Provides for the election of one of the board members as chairman. (c) Deletes the dollar amount of compensation to be paid to the board members, leaving the amount to be determined by the Commissioners Court. (d) Provides that the commissioners court, upon recommendation by the juvenile board, shall set the salaries of juvenile probation officers and employees, taking into consideration the juvenile board recommendation and other relevant factors such as the source of funds, the duties and workload of the employees, and the effect on other county employees. When setting the salaries, the commissioners court shall comply with all applicable laws. SECTION 2. Effective date is September 1, 1997. SECTION 3.. Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE The C.S.H.B. 1891 makes the following changes: 1) In Subsection 152.1451(a) the substitute adds two county commissioners and one school superintendent are added to the board; 2) In Subsection 152.1451(d) the substitute adds a provision whereby the commissioners court comply with applicable laws when setting the salaries; and 3) In Subsection 152.1451 the substitute deletes section (e), which addressed the rate of salary increases for the juvenile employees.