By:  Thompson                                                     H.B. No. 2906



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to state compensation to counties based on the use of drug 
courts. 
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Chapter 509, Government Code, is amended by 
adding Section 509.0111 to read as follows:
	Sec. 509.0111.  REWARDS FOR USE OF DRUG COURTS.  (a)  The 
division, from an amount otherwise spent on confining persons 
convicted of possessing less than one gram of a controlled 
substance listed in Penalty Group 1 or 2, shall make payments to a 
county in the manner provided by this section.  A payment made under 
this section does not reduce payments to be made under Section 
509.011.
	(b)  Each year, the division shall make a payment to each 
county based on the average number of convictions in the county for 
the four-year period preceding the calendar year in which payment 
is made, including convictions in which the defendant was placed on 
community supervision.
	(c)  Money received by a county under this section may be 
used only to:
		(1)  reimburse the Texas Department of Criminal 
Justice, at a rate to be determined by the Criminal Justice Policy 
Council, for each revocation of the community supervision of an 
individual convicted of a felony, other than a revocation based on 
the commission of a new offense punishable by confinement or 
imprisonment; or
		(2)  establish and maintain one or more drug courts.                   
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.