BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1232

By: Guillen

State Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that while there are many entities involved in efforts to address human trafficking in Texas, there is no single entity focused solely on coordinating these efforts and combatting trafficking. There have been calls for coordination of the human trafficking prevention programs and services administered by the state in order to effectively and efficiently address trafficking. C.S.H.B. 1232 provides for the creation of the human trafficking prevention coordinating council for these purposes.

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

C.S.H.B. 1232 amends the Government Code to require the office of the attorney general to establish the human trafficking prevention coordinating council to develop and implement a five‑year strategic plan for preventing human trafficking in Texas. The bill sets out the composition of the council and designates the attorney general or the attorney general's designee as the council's presiding officer. The bill requires the council, for each five-year period, to develop and implement a strategic plan for preventing human trafficking in Texas and to submit the plan to the legislature, the first of which must be submitted not later than May 1, 2020. The bill sets out the required contents of the strategic plan and requires the council, not later than December 1 of each year and beginning with the year following the year the council submits a strategic plan to the legislature, to submit to the legislature an annual report detailing the progress of the plan's implementation and containing certain information. The bill requires the office of the attorney general to make the strategic plan and annual reports available on the office's website.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1232 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes a provision allowing for an additional member of the council who is a representative of any state agency other than those expressly named in the bill, to be appointed by the chief administrative officer of the agency, if the human trafficking prevention task force and the council determine that the representative is a necessary member of the council.

The substitute does not include a reference to a successor entity to the task force in the requirement for the council's strategic plan to coordinate the expenditures of the task force.