By Place                                              H.B. No. 2826

         75R6353 GWK-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the qualifications required for appointment as a

 1-3     community supervision and corrections department officer.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 76.005(b), Government Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           (b)  To be eligible for appointment as an officer who

 1-8     supervises defendants placed on community supervision a person[:]

 1-9                 [(1)]  must have acquired a bachelor's degree conferred

1-10     by an institution of higher education accredited by an accrediting

1-11     organization recognized by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating

1-12     Board[; and]

1-13                 [(2)  unless the bachelor's degree is in criminology,

1-14     corrections, counseling, law, social work, psychology, sociology,

1-15     or a related field that has been approved by the division, must

1-16     have:]

1-17                       [(A)  one year of graduate study in one of those

1-18     fields; or]

1-19                       [(B)  one year of experience in full-time

1-20     casework, counseling, or community or group work that has been

1-21     approved by the division].

1-22           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-23     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-24     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

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

 2-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 2-4     passage, and it is so enacted.