LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD

Austin, Texas

FISCAL NOTE, 83RD LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

April 11, 2013

TO:	Honorable Tan Parker, Chair, House Committee on Corrections
FROM:	Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB1388 by Workman (Relating to the commitment of certain juveniles to local post-adjudication secure correctional facilities in certain counties and to the release under supervision of those juveniles.), As Introduced

The fiscal implications of the bill are indeterminate, as the extent to which certain juvenile probation departments will choose to commit juveniles to an eligible local post-adjudication secure correctional facility as opposed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department cannot be estimated at this time.

The bill would amend the Family Code and Human Resources Code to allow a juvenile court in a county with a population of at least 335,000 or more to commit juveniles adjudicated for a felony offense to a local post-adjudication secure correctional facility operated by or under contract with a local juvenile board or local juvenile probation department. The local post-adjudication secure correctional facility must be located in a county with a population of at least 335,000. The bill also provides the ability for local juvenile probation departments to provide parole supervision for juveniles committed to and released from local post-adjudication secure correctional facilities.
 
Under current law, a juvenile court may place a juvenile in a locally operated secure correctional facility, but the juvenile must be released by their 18th birthday. Under the provisions of the bill, a juvenile committed to a locally operated secure correctional facility could remain in the facility until their 19th birthday.

Based on the 2010 census, there are 14 juvenile probation departments whose county population is 335,000 or more. The impact of the bill would depend on the extent to which these applicable juvenile courts choose to commit juveniles to an eligible local post-adjudication secure correctional facility as opposed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. In fiscal year 2012, the 14 affected jurisdictions committed a total of 474 juveniles to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and made 1,727 placements to local post-adjudication secure correctional facilities. The bill does not require a county's juvenile court to increase the number of juveniles committed to local facilities. The impact of the bill would also depend on the capacity available in eligible local post-adjudication secure correctional facilities to accept juveniles who would otherwise be committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. Therefore, a determination cannot be made regarding the increase in juveniles committed to local post-adjudication secure correctional facilities.

The bill would take effect on December 1, 2013, and apply only to offenses committed on or after that date.

Local Government Impact

The fiscal implications of the bill on units of local government cannot be determined at this time.

Source Agencies:

212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 644 Texas Juvenile Justice Department, 696 Department of Criminal Justice

LBB Staff:

UP, KKR, ESi, AI, KNi, JPo