| TO: | Honorable Harold V. Dutton, Jr., Chair, House Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Issues |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB173 by Raymond (Relating to a physical and mental examination of a child subject to the juvenile justice system.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
The Family Code, Section 51.20 provides that a juvenile court may order a youth to be examined by a disinterested expert, including a physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist qualified by education and clinical training in mental health or mental retardation and experienced in forensic evaluation, to determine whether the child has a mental illness or is a person with mental retardation. If the evaluation determines that the youth has a mental illness, mental retardation, or suffers from chemical dependency, the juvenile probation department would be required to refer the youth to a local mental health or mental retardation provider or another appropriate and legally authorized agency or provider for services. The juvenile probation department would be required to report each referral to the Juvenile Probation Commission. The bill would take effect September 1, 2007. The bill amends the Family Code by adding chemical dependency evaluations for youth who are initially detained in facilities operated by the Youth Commission (TYC), pre-adjudication secure detention facilities, and post-adjudication secure correctional facilities.
The Juvenile Probation Commission anticipates no significant fiscal impact if this bill is implemented as juvenile courts can already order chemical dependency evaluations for youth initially detained in the juvenile system and refer the youth to mental health and chemical dependency services. TYC reports no significant fiscal implications from the bill as juvenile courts do not maintain jurisdiction over youth committed to TYC and TYC facilities are not used for initial detainment of youth.
| Source Agencies: | 665 Juvenile Probation Commission, 694 Youth Commission
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, MN, GG, AI
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