LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 81ST LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

March 26, 2009

TO:	Honorable Jeff Wentworth, Chair, Senate Committee on Jurisprudence
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB861 by Wentworth (Relating to the exchange of information among certain governmental entities concerning at-risk youth.), As Introduced

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend Subchapter A, Chapter 58, Family Code to require the exchange of information

concerning at-risk youth among the Youth Commission (TYC), the Juvenile Probation Commission

(JPC), the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), juvenile probation departments, local mental health or mental retardation (MHMR) agencies, municipal and county health departments, a hospital district, and a county-funded program for at-risk youth. An at-risk youth is described as a person under age 18 who has been referred to or adjudicated in a juvenile court for delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision; a person who is on any form of juvenile supervision; a person who is in the custody of TYC; or a person who has a history of active involvement with DFPS or a local MHMR agency. An agency named in this bill would be required to disclose information concerning an at-risk youth's identity, needs, treatment, social, criminal, and vocational history, probation or supervision status, compliance with conditions of probation, and medical and mental health history to other agencies named in the bill only if the information would assist an agency in providing services to the at-risk youth who is the subject of the information. The agencies may establish a protocol for exchanging such information to efficiently and promptly disclose and accept the information. The protocol may specify the types of information that may be shared without violating federal law, including any federal funding requirements. The bill would take effect September 1, 2009.

Local Government Impact

Costs to local MHMR authorities, municipal or county health departments, or hospital districts to exchange information about at-risk youth would depend on the number of at-risk youth identified in a particular locality. It is assumed that each agency would exchange information in the most cost-effective manner available.

Source Agencies:

530 Family and Protective Services, Department of, 665 Juvenile Probation Commission, 694 Youth Commission

LBB Staff:

JOB, MN, GG, AI, TP