AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

 

Counties over two million in population are authorized to appoint magistrates to hear truancy cases.  These truancy court magistrates are not currently authorized to access the state Juvenile Justice Information System to check on the history of the children they are working with.

 

S.B. 1241 will allow these magistrates, along with justice and municipal courts that exercise jurisdiction over a juvenile under Section 54.021 (County, Justice, or Municipal Court: Truancy), Family Code, to have access to the state Juvenile Justice Information System.  Having more data about a truant's background will allow a magistrate, justice of the peace, or municipal judge to make a more informed decision on the disposition of a truant's case.

 

As proposed, S.B. 1241 amends current law relating to authorizing certain courts to access information in the juvenile justice information system.

 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

 

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

 

 

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 58.106(a), Family Code, as follows:

 

(a) Provides that, except as otherwise provided by this section, information contained in the juvenile justice information system is confidential information for the use of the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas (DPS) and prohibits dissemination by DPS except:

 

(1)-(3) Makes no changes to these subdivisions;

 

(4) and (5) Makes nonsubstantive changes; and

 

(6)  to a county, justice, or municipal court exercising jurisdiction over a juvenile under Section 54.021 (County, Justice, or Municipal Court: Truancy).

 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 2011.