BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1191

By: Johnson, Jarvis

Corrections

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that foster youth face a disproportionately high risk of being incarcerated and that in order for stakeholders to address this issue there needs to be more detailed reporting concerning inmates who were at some point in the foster care system. H.B. 1191 requires the annual report by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice concerning such inmates to have additional information and be more readily available.

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.

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.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 1191 amends the Government Code to specify that the annual report by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) summarizing statistical information concerning the total number of inmates who have at any time been in the conservatorship of a state agency responsible for providing child protective services must include the number of inmates who have not previously served a term of imprisonment, disaggregated by age. The bill expands those to whom the report must be submitted to include each member of the legislature. The bill requires TDCJ to make the report available to the public on its website.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.