BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2519

By: Allen

Corrections

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that developmental factors, risk level, and lack of individualized approaches are among the leading contributing factors of high probation revocation rates among young adults in Texas, creating an over-representation of young adults within the criminal justice system. C.S.H.B. 2519 seeks to address this issue by requiring the community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to report to the legislature on outcomes among young adults aged 17 to 25 on adult felony probation and authorizing the division to provide technical assistance to community supervision and corrections departments serving counties where probation revocation rates are highest.

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. 2519 amends the Government Code to require the community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, not later than December 1 of each even‑numbered year, to submit to the legislature a report that includes the following information, disaggregated by race or ethnicity, offense type, and supervision level:

· the revocation rate for felony defendants placed on community supervision in each county who are at least 17 years of age but younger than 25 years of age;

· the percentage of such felony defendants who completed the period of community supervision; and

· the recidivism rates for such felony defendants following the first, second, and third anniversary of the date the defendants were placed on community supervision.

C.S.H.B. 2519 authorizes the division to provide technical assistance to community supervisions and corrections departments (CSCDs) that serve counties in which the revocation rate for such felony defendants significantly exceeds the statewide average or historically has significantly exceeded the statewide average for such felony defendants who have a similar supervision level and lists the information required to be included in that assistance. The bill requires the division to require a CSCD eligible for technical assistance to develop and submit to the division a certain corrective action plan and requires the division to give priority to these CSCDs when awarding a grant to a CSCD for the purpose of reducing the revocation rate for the applicable felony defendants.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2519 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 does not include requirements for the division to require each CSCD to annually report information on outcomes of certain felony defendants placed on community supervision to the division and for the division to include a summary of the reported information in its report on CSCD programs and services submitted to specified entities. The substitute requires the division instead to submit a report that includes information on those outcomes to the legislature not later than December 1 of each even-numbered year.