H.B. No. 3200

AN ACT

relating to funding for community supervision and corrections departments.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 509.011, Government Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (e) and adding Subsections (i) and (j) to read as follows:

(a) If the division determines that a department complies with division standards and if the community justice council has submitted a community justice plan under Section 76.003 and the supporting information required by the division and the division determines the plan and supporting information are acceptable, the division shall prepare and submit to the comptroller vouchers for payment to the department as follows:

(1) for per capita funding, a per diem amount for:

(A) each felony defendant placed on community supervision and [directly] supervised by the department pursuant to lawful authority; and

(B) each felony defendant participating in a pretrial program and supervised by the department pursuant to lawful authority;

(2) for per capita funding, a per diem amount for a period not to exceed 182 days for each misdemeanor defendant placed on community supervision and supervised by the department pursuant to lawful authority[, other than a felony defendant]; and

(3) for formula funding, an annual amount as computed by multiplying a percentage determined by the allocation formula established under Subsection (f) times the total amount provided in the General Appropriations Act for payments under this subdivision.

(e) In establishing the per capita funding formula under Subsection (i) [per diem payments authorized by Subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2)], the division shall consider the amounts appropriated in the General Appropriations Act for basic supervision as sufficient to provide basic supervision in each year of the fiscal biennium.

(i) The division annually shall establish a per capita funding formula to determine the percentage of the total amount provided in the General Appropriations Act for payments to departments that each department is entitled to receive as per capita funding under Subsections (a)(1) and (2). With reference to funding distributed under Subsection (a)(1)(A), the formula must include:

(1) higher per capita rates for those felony defendants supervised by a department who are serving the early years of a term of community supervision than for those felony defendants who are serving the end of a term of community supervision;

(2) penalties in per capita funding with respect to each felony defendant supervised by a department whose community supervision is revoked due to a technical violation of an applicable condition of community supervision; and

(3) awards in per capita funding with respect to each felony defendant supervised by a department who is discharged following an early termination of community supervision under Section 5 or Section 20, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, as applicable.

(j) The board by rule may adopt a policy limiting the percentage of benefit or loss a department may realize as a result of the operation of the per capita funding formula established under Subsection (i).

SECTION 2. Section 19, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:

(a) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, a judge granting community supervision shall fix a fee of not less than $25 and not more than $60 per month to be paid during the period of community supervision by the defendant to the court of original jurisdiction or, in the case of an intrastate transfer described by Section 10(b) of this article, to the court to which jurisdiction of the defendant's case is transferred [by the defendant during the community supervision period]. The judge may make payment of the fee a condition of granting or continuing the community supervision. The judge may waive or reduce the fee or suspend a monthly payment of the fee if the judge determines that payment of the fee would cause the defendant a significant financial hardship.

(b) A [The] judge shall deposit any fee [the fees] received under Subsection (a) of this section in the special fund of the county treasury, to be used for the same purposes for which state aid may be used under Chapter 76, Government Code.

(g) A court to which jurisdiction of a defendant's case is transferred under Section 10(b) of this article shall enter an order directing the defendant to pay the monthly fee described by Subsection (a) of this section to that court in lieu of paying the monthly fee to the court of original jurisdiction. To the extent of any conflict between an order issued under this subsection and an order issued by a court of original jurisdiction, the order entered under this subsection prevails.

SECTION 3. (a) Not later than January 1, 2008, the community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall establish the per capita funding formula described by Section 509.011(i), Government Code, as added by this Act, that is to be used for the state fiscal year beginning September 1, 2008.

(b) Sections 509.011(a) and (e), Government Code, as amended by this Act, and Sections 509.011(i) and (j), Government Code, as added by this Act, apply to appropriations made for any state fiscal year beginning on or after September 1, 2008.

SECTION 4. 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, 2007.

______________________________ ______________________________

President of the Senate Speaker of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 3200 was passed by the House on May 10, 2007, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 0, 2 present, not voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to H.B. No. 3200 on May 25, 2007, and requested the appointment of a conference committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No. 3200 on May 27, 2007, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 3, 2 present, not voting.

______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House

I certify that H.B. No. 3200 was passed by the Senate, with amendments, on May 23, 2007, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 1; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No. 3200 on May 27, 2007, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 1.

______________________________ Secretary of the Senate APPROVED: __________________

Date

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Governor