SGN H.B. 2326 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS CORRECTIONS H.B. 2326 By: Allen 4-9-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Currently, TDCJ's statutory mission is oriented toward offenders: "to provide public safety, promote positive change in offender behavior, and reintegrate offenders into society." State agencies are constrained to conduct activities pursuant only to specific grants of statutory authority, and other than victim notification and information, TDCJ has very limited statutory authority to provide services to victims. To the extent that victim services programs are not specifically authorized by statute, they currently should at a minimum, bear some relationship to the agency's general mission, such as the rehabilitative value of victim-offender mediation and dialogue. PURPOSE HB 2326 establishes a victim services division, with a specific grant of authority. The bill also changes numerous references in statute to the new division, and amends the parole file confidentiality statute to clarify that records are confidential when held by any division of TDCJ. 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 493.002(a), Government Code, to add the victim services division within the department. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 493, Government Code, by adding Section 493.0055 as follows: Sec. 493.0055. VICTIM SERVICES DIVISION. (a) Requires the victim services division to maintain information relevant to victims of crime, provide notice to victims of crime as required by law, and provide training and information on crime victims' issues to department employees and criminal justice personnel. Allows the division to provide services to victims of crime and provide victim-related services to offenders under the jurisdiction of the department, including victim-offender mediation and the opportunity for dialogue between victims and offenders. (b) Provides that the Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse is located in the victim services division. (c) Allows the board to apply for and accept gifts or grants from any public or private source for the purpose of providing services described by this section. SECTION 3. Amends Section 2, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Subdivision (10) to define "Victim services division" as the division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. SECTION 4. Amends Subdivisions (2) and (3), Section 8(f), Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, by changing references from the pardons and paroles division to the victim services division. SECTION 5. Amends Section 18(a), Article 42.18, Code of Criminal Procedure, to provide that except as provided by Subsection (b), all information, including victim protest letters or other correspondence, victim impact statements, lists of inmates eligible for release on parole, and arrest records of inmates, obtained and maintained by the department in connection with inmates of the institutional division and related to their eligibility for or release on parole, mandatory supervision, or executive clemency, or individuals who may be on mandatory supervision or parole and under the supervision of the pardons and paroles division, or persons directly identified in any proposed plan of release for a prisoner, is confidential and privileged. SECTION 6. Amends Article 56.02(a), Subdivisions (6) and (7), Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: (6) deletes references to Chapter 56 and changes references from the Act to the subchapter. (7) provides that information be provided for inclusion in the defendant's file to be considered by the Board of Pardons and Paroles. SECTION 7. Amends Subsections (a), (d), and (h), Article 56.03, Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: (a) Adds the community justice assistance division, institutional division, and pardons and paroles division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to assist the Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse and the Board of Pardons and Paroles in the development of a form to be used to record the impact of an offense on a victim of the offense, guardian of a victim, or a close relative of a deceased victim and to provide the agencies, prosecutors, and participants with information needed to contact the victim, guardian, or relative if needed at any stage of a prosecution of a person charged with the offense. Adds the community justice assistance division, institutional division, and the pardons and paroles division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to assist the Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse and the Board of Pardons and Paroles in the development of a victims' information booklet that provides a general explanation of the criminal justice system to victims of an offense, guardians of victims, and relatives of deceased victims. (d) changes reference from the Board of Pardons and Paroles to the victim services division of TDCJ. (h) Adds the community justice assistance division, institutional division, and pardons and paroles division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to participate with the Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse and the Board of Pardons and Paroles to update the victim impact statement form provided to victims, guardians of victims, and relatives of deceased victims, if necessary, to reflect changes in law relating to criminal justice and the rights of victims and guardians and relatives of victims. SECTION 8. Amends Article 56.04(e), Code of Criminal Procedure, to change reference from Texas Department of Corrections to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. SECTION 9. Amends Subsections (a) and (c), Article 56.05, Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: (a) Requires the Crime Victims' Institute to develop a survey plan to maintain statistics on the numbers and types of persons to whom state and local agencies provide victim impact statements during each year. (c) Requires the Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse to assist the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education to develop crime victim assistance standards and distribute those standards to law enforcement officers to aid those officers in performing the duties imposed by this chapter. Requires the Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse to develop and distribute, in cooperation with the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, crime victim assistance standards to aid attorneys representing the state in performing duties imposed by this chapter. SECTION 10. Amends Article 56.08(c), Code of Criminal Procedure, to change reference from the pardons and paroles division to the victim services division. SECTION 11. Amends Article 56.11, Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended by S.B. No. 97, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, to change references from the institutional division to the victim services division. SECTION 12. Amends Article 56.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, to provide that the victim services division is responsible for notifying victims upon the escape of their offender. SECTION 13. Effective date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 14. Emergency clause.