By:  West                                                         S.B. No. 938
	(In the Senate - Filed March 3, 2005; March 14, 2005, read 
first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; 
April 11, 2005, reported adversely, with favorable Committee 
Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 11, 2005, 
sent to printer.)


COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 938                                    By:  Ellis


A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT


relating to the creation of a prison diversion pilot program.               
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Chapter 509, Government Code, is amended by 
adding Section 509.016 to read as follows:
	Sec. 509.016.  PRISON DIVERSION PILOT PROGRAM.  (a)  The 
division shall establish a pilot program that provides grants to 
selected departments for the implementation of a system of 
progressive sanctions designed to reduce the revocation rate of 
defendants placed on community supervision.  The division shall 
give priority in providing grants to departments serving counties 
in which the revocation rate for defendants on community 
supervision significantly exceeds the statewide average.
	(b)  In determining which departments are proper candidates 
for grants under this section, the division shall give preference 
to departments that present to the division a plan that will target 
medium-risk and high-risk defendants and use progressive sanction 
models similar to those currently in use in departments serving 
Fort Bend and El Paso Counties and drug courts in Harris and Dallas 
Counties.  As a condition to receiving a grant, a department must 
meet criteria developed by the division.  The criteria must contain 
some if not all of the following components:
		(1)  reduced and specialized caseloads for supervision 
officers, which may include electronic monitoring or substance 
abuse testing of defendants;
		(2)  the creation, designation, and fiscal support of 
courts and associated infrastructure necessary to increase 
judicial oversight and reduce revocations;
		(3)  increased monitoring and field contact by 
supervision officers; 
		(4)  shortened terms of community supervision, with 
increased supervision during the earliest part of the term;
		(5)  graduated sanctions and incentives, offered to a 
defendant by both the departments and courts served by the 
department;
		(6)  the use of inpatient and outpatient treatment 
options, including substance abuse treatment, mental health 
treatment, and cognitive and behavioral programs for defendants;
		(7)  the use of intermediate sanctions facilities;                     
		(8)  the use of community corrections beds;                            
		(9)  early termination strategies and capabilities;                    
		(10)  gang intervention strategies; and                                
		(11)  risk assessment techniques and reassessment 
techniques.        
	(c)  The division shall, not later than December 1, 2006, 
provide a report to the board.  The report must state the number of 
departments receiving grants under this section, identify those 
departments by name, and describe for each department receiving a 
grant the components of the department's program and the success of 
the department in reducing  revocations.  The report must also 
contain an analysis of the scope, effectiveness, and cost benefit 
of programs funded by grants provided under this section and a 
comparison of those programs to similar programs in existence in 
various departments before March 1, 2005.  The division may include 
in the report any other information the division determines will be 
beneficial to the board or the legislature.  The board shall forward 
the report to the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house 
of representatives not later than December 15, 2006.
	SECTION 2.  The community justice assistance division of the 
Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall develop criteria and 
review grant proposals, as required by Section 509.016, Government 
Code, as added by this Act, as soon as possible after the effective 
date of this Act, and shall begin making grants under that section 
not later than September 30, 2005.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.



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