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.
1-54 * * * * *