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 would also authorize local juvenile probation departments to provide parole supervision for juveniles committed to and released from local post adjudication secure correctional facility under this statute.  The bill would take effect on December 1, 2013, and applies only to offenses committed on or after that date.
 
Based on the 2010 U.S. Census, there are 14 juvenile probation departments located in counties having populations of 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 (TJJD).  In fiscal year 2012, the 14 affected jurisdictions committed a total of 474 juveniles to TJJD and made 1,727 placements to local post-adjudication secure correctional 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 TJJD.  The parole population supervised by TJJD would also change depending on how many juveniles are committed to local post-adjudication secure correctional facilities and released from those facilities to parole supervision under the provisions of the bill.