BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.S.B. 108 |
By: Whitmire |
Juvenile Justice & Family Issues |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Recent legislation addressed the issuance of citations to students for a school offense, but observers note that some issues were treated in slightly different ways by different pieces of legislation. During the interim, a series of meetings was held to oversee the implementation of the legislation. C.S.S.B. 108 seeks to address issues brought to light by these meetings.
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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.S.B. 108 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to expand the conditions under which the expunction of records of a person under 17 years of age relating to a complaint is authorized to include the conditions that the complaint was dismissed under any law or that the person was acquitted of the offense. The bill applies this change to arrest records and files created before, on, or after the bill's effective date. The bill expands eligibility for a defendant in a proceeding before a justice or municipal court who is under 18 years of age or enrolled full time in an accredited secondary school in a program leading toward a high school diploma to participate in a teen court program to include a defendant who is recommended to attend the program by a school employee under the bill's provisions and who meets other applicable requirements. The bill reduces from two years to one year the amount of time preceding the date of the alleged offense in which a defendant in a proceeding before a justice or municipal court must not have successfully completed a teen court program in order to be eligible to participate in such a program.
C.S.S.B. 108 amends the Education Code to redefine "child," for purposes of the criminal procedure applicable to a school offense, as a person who is a student and at least 10 years of age and younger than 18 years of age, rather than as a person who is a student, at least 10 years of age and younger than 17 years of age, and charged with or convicted of an offense under the jurisdiction of a justice or municipal court. The bill prohibits a law enforcement officer or school resource officer from issuing a citation to a child who is alleged to have committed a school offense. The bill authorizes a complaint alleging the commission of a school offense to include a recommendation by a school employee that the child attend a teen court program if the school employee believes attending a teen court program is in the best interest of the child.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2015.
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COMPARISON OF SENATE ENGROSSED AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.S.B. 108 may differ from the engrossed in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the engrossed and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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