1-1     By:  McClendon (Senate Sponsor - West)                H.B. No. 1928

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1997;

 1-3     May 6, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal

 1-4     Justice; May 18, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-5     Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 18, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the operation of juvenile pre-adjudication and

 1-9     post-adjudication secure detention and correctional facilities.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 51.12, Family Code, is amended by

1-12     amending Subsections (c) and (d) and adding Subsection (i) to read

1-13     as follows:

1-14           (c)  In each county, each [the] judge of the juvenile court

1-15     and the members of the juvenile board shall personally inspect the

1-16     juvenile pre-adjudication secure detention facilities and any

1-17     public or private juvenile secure correctional facilities used for

1-18     post-adjudication confinement that are located in the county and

1-19     operated under authority of the juvenile board at least annually

1-20     and shall certify in writing to the authorities responsible for

1-21     operating and giving financial support to the facilities and to the

1-22     Texas Juvenile Probation Commission that they are suitable or

1-23     unsuitable for the detention of children in accordance with:

1-24                 (1)  the requirements of Subsections (a), (f), and (g);

1-25     and

1-26                 (2)  minimum professional standards for the detention

1-27     of children in pre-adjudication or post-adjudication secure

1-28     confinement promulgated by the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission

1-29     or, at the election of the juvenile board, the current standards

1-30     promulgated by the American Correctional Association.

1-31           (d)  No child shall be placed in a facility that has not been

1-32     certified under Subsection (c) of this section as suitable for the

1-33     detention of children and registered under Subsection (i) of this

1-34     section.   A child detained in a facility that has not been

1-35     certified under  Subsection (c) of this section as suitable for the

1-36     detention of children or that has not been registered under

1-37     Subsection (i) of this section shall be entitled to immediate

1-38     release from custody  in that facility.

1-39           (i)  Except for a facility operated or certified by the Texas

1-40     Youth Commission, a governmental unit or private entity that

1-41     operates or contracts for the operation of a juvenile

1-42     pre-adjudication secure detention facility or a juvenile

1-43     post-adjudication secure correctional facility in this state shall:

1-44                 (1)  register the facility annually with the Texas

1-45     Juvenile Probation Commission; and

1-46                 (2)  adhere to all applicable minimum standards for the

1-47     facility.

1-48           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-49           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-50     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-51     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-52     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-53     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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