By Ogden                                               S.B. No. 447
         76R5794 DAK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to requiring as a condition of release of a child by the
 1-3     Texas Youth Commission that the child obtain a mandatory
 1-4     educational skill level.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter F, Chapter 61, Human Resources Code,
 1-7     is amended by adding Section 61.085 to read as follows:
 1-8           Sec. 61.085.  EDUCATIONAL SKILL LEVEL.  (a) Before releasing
 1-9     a child under supervision, the commission shall determine whether
1-10     the child has reached the following mandatory educational skill
1-11     level:
1-12                 (1)  an educational skill level equal to or greater
1-13     than the average skill level of a child of the same age; or
1-14                 (2)  a high school diploma or graduate equivalency
1-15     diploma.
1-16           (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (e), if the commission
1-17     determines that the child has not reached the mandatory educational
1-18     skill level, the commission may not release the child under
1-19     supervision.
1-20           (c)  The commission may waive the requirement of this section
1-21     for a child if the commission determines that the child lacks the
1-22     intellectual capacity or the learning ability to ever achieve the
1-23     appropriate mandatory educational skill level.
1-24           (d)  The governor may waive the requirement of this section
 2-1     in whole or in part if the governor determines that, considering
 2-2     the number of children to which the requirement applies, the
 2-3     resources of the commission are insufficient to implement this
 2-4     section.
 2-5           (e)  If the governor waives the requirement of this section
 2-6     in whole or in part under Subsection (d), the commission may
 2-7     release under supervision a child who the commission has determined
 2-8     has not reached the mandatory educational skill level if the
 2-9     commission requires as a condition of the release that the child
2-10     attain that level.
2-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-12     applies to any child released under supervision by the Texas Youth
2-13     Commission on or after that date, without regard to whether the
2-14     child is committed to the commission before, on, or after that
2-15     date.
2-16           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.