BILL ANALYSIS |
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C.S.H.B. 1930 |
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By: White, James |
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Corrections |
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Committee Report (Substituted) |
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties contend that community supervision and corrections departments have experienced difficulty in meeting certain recently enacted requirements relating to community justice plans, and the parties assert that these plans have evolved into meaningless, bureaucratic tasks for most of the departments. The parties note that the community supervision and corrections departments would prefer to use a simple process that actually assists in planning for current and future needs and services. C.S.H.B. 1930 seeks to remedy this situation by providing for an improved strategic planning process for these community supervision and corrections departments.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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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.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1930 amends the Government Code to replace the requirement that a community justice plan for a community supervision and corrections department be submitted by a community justice council as a condition to payment of state aid to a department or county and as a condition of eligibility for payment of emergency overcrowding relief with a requirement that a strategic plan instead be submitted by a community supervision and corrections department for the department as a condition to payment of the state aid only. The bill requires the plan to include a statement of goals and priorities and of commitment by a community supervision and corrections department rather than a statement of goals and priorities and of commitment by a community justice council and the department director. The bill removes certain state jail felony facility proposals from the required contents of a plan. The bill specifies that certain information in a plan regarding programs and services be summaries, rather than descriptions, of that information. The bill removes a requirement that the report prepared by the community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that summarizes certain programs and services, as described in the plan, provided by community supervision and corrections departments include certain specified financial information and information concerning certain state aid.
C.S.H.B. 1930 authorizes the establishment of a community justice council by a county commissioners court, unless certain entities that were in existence on September 1, 1991, are performing duties substantially similar to those imposed by statute on a community justice council, and removes the requirement that a community justice council be established by certain judges trying criminal cases in each judicial district or in the county or counties served by a judicial district who are served by a community supervision and corrections department. The bill requires a community justice council to provide continuing policy guidance and direction for criminal justice planning, programs, and initiatives and removes the requirement that a council provide continuing policy guidance and direction for the development of community justice plans and community corrections facilities, programs, and conditions of community supervision.
C.S.H.B. 1930 specifies, for purposes of a statutory provision relating to state funds or guarantees for corrections facilities, that a community supervision and corrections department may authorize expenditures of certain provided funds if the district judge or district judges trying criminal cases in each judicial district and the statutory county court judges trying criminal cases in the county or counties served by a judicial district, rather than a community justice council, recommend the expenditure. The bill removes the requirement that a community justice council serving a community supervision and corrections department, a county, a municipality, or a combination involving more than one of those entities hold a public meeting before such an entity or combination of entities may take certain action under statutory provisions relating to state funds or guarantees for corrections facilities. The bill repeals statutory provisions conditioning the authority of a county commissioners court to enter into a contract for transfer facilities or to receive grants for such purposes and conditioning the authority of a county commissioners court or community supervision and corrections department to enter into a contract to operate, maintain, and manage state jail felony facilities on prior consultation with the community justice council serving the county or department, as applicable, and on the most recent community justice plan describing such a contract or grant.
C.S.H.B. 1930 repeals the following provisions of the Government Code: · Section 499.151(d) · Section 507.001(e)
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2015.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 1930 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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