SGN H.B. 2826 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS CORRECTIONS H.B. 2826 By: Place 4-2-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Current law governing eligibility for service as a community supervision officer requires a bachelor's degree in one of several specific fields, such as corrections, criminology or counseling; or one year of either graduate study in those same fields or one year of work experience. The Community Justice Assistance Division can waive this requirement and allow an individual with a bachelor's degree in any field to be eligible for employment. At the request of local Community Supervision and Corrections departments, the Community Justice Assistance Division routinely waives the requirement that a bachelor's degree be in a specific field. PURPOSE H.B. 2826, if enacted, would amend state law to simply require a bachelor's degree for employment as a community supervision officer thereby eliminating the need for CJAD waivers and simplifying the hiring process for local departments. 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 76.005(b), Government Code, to remove Subsection 2 which requires a bachelor's degree in one of several specific fields for employment as a community supervision officer. SECTION 2. Emergency clause.