By McClendon                                          H.B. No. 1928

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the operation of juvenile pre-adjudication and

 1-3     post-adjudication secure detention and correctional facilities.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 51.12, Family Code, is amended by

 1-6     amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsection (i) to read

 1-7     as follows:

 1-8           (c)  In each county, each [the] judge of the juvenile court

 1-9     and the members of the juvenile board shall personally inspect the

1-10     juvenile pre-adjudication secure detention facilities and any

1-11     public or private juvenile secure correctional facilities used for

1-12     post-adjudication confinement that are located in the county and

1-13     operated under authority of the juvenile board at least annually

1-14     and shall certify in writing to the authorities responsible for

1-15     operating and giving financial support to the facilities and to the

1-16     Texas Juvenile Probation Commission that they are suitable or

1-17     unsuitable for the detention of children in accordance with:

1-18                 (1)  the requirements of Subsections (a), (f), and (g);

1-19     and

1-20                 (2)  minimum professional standards for the detention

1-21     of children in pre-adjudication or post-adjudication secure

1-22     confinement promulgated by the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission

1-23     or, at the election of the juvenile board, the current standards

1-24     promulgated by the American Correctional Association.

 2-1           (d)  No child shall be placed in a facility that has not been

 2-2     certified under Subsection (c) of this section as suitable for the

 2-3     detention of children and registered under Subsection (i) of this

 2-4     section.   A child detained in a facility that has not been

 2-5     certified under  Subsection (c) of this section as suitable for the

 2-6     detention of children or that has not been registered under

 2-7     Subsection (i) of this section shall be entitled to immediate

 2-8     release from custody  in that facility.

 2-9           (i)  Except for a facility operated or certified by the Texas

2-10     Youth Commission, a governmental unit or private entity that

2-11     operates or contracts for the operation of a juvenile

2-12     pre-adjudication secure detention facility or a juvenile

2-13     post-adjudication secure correctional facility in this state shall:

2-14                 (1)  register the facility annually with the Texas

2-15     Juvenile Probation Commission; and

2-16                 (2)  adhere to all applicable minimum standards for the

2-17     facility.

2-18           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-19           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.