BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1296

By: Hegar

Public Safety

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There is a shortage of officers who qualify to serve as special officers for offenders with mental impairments, and current law does not allow a county jailer to serve as a special officer for such offenders.

S.B. 1296 adds a county jailer to the persons the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education is authorized to certify as a special officer for offenders with mental impairments and adds a county jailer or a justice of the peace to the persons to which the commission is authorized to issue a professional achievement or proficiency certificate. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

S.B. 1296 amends the Occupations Code to include a county jailer among the persons who, on meeting certain requirements, the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education is authorized to certify as a special officer for offenders with mental impairments.  The bill adds a county jailer or a justice of the peace to the persons to whom the commission is authorized to issue a professional achievement or proficiency certificate. 

S.B. 1296 authorizes the commission to certify a county jailer as a special officer for offenders with mental impairments and to issue a certificate to the county jailer if the county jailer meets the training and examination requirements, regardless of whether the county jailer completed the required training and passed the examination before, on, or after the effective date of the bill.  The bill authorizes the commission to issue a certificate to a justice of the peace who is certified as a special officer for offenders with mental impairments regardless of whether the justice of the peace was certified before, on, or after the effective date of the bill.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.