BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2897

By: Parker

Corrections

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that a significant percentage of the incarcerated population in Texas consists of individuals who are developmentally disabled and that these individuals oftentimes commit wrong without realizing the consequences of their actions. It has been suggested that without rehabilitation, these individuals are likely to reoffend. C.S.H.B. 2897 seeks to promote treatment and assistance for these offenders and facilitate their successful reentry into the community by requiring the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to implement reentry and reintegration plans that are person centered and based on the individual needs of these offenders. 

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. 2897 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to develop and identify community resources to assist an inmate or state jail defendant confined in a correctional facility who is suspected of or identified as having an intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning and whose adaptive functioning is significantly impaired in successfully reentering and reintegrating into the community. The bill requires TDCJ to develop and implement a reentry and reintegration plan that is person centered and based on the individual needs of such a person and sets out content that may be included in the plan. The bill expands the purposes for which TDCJ may accept gifts, awards, or grants to include providing services under the bill's provisions. The bill prohibits funds appropriated to TDCJ from being expended to provide residential housing assistance to such a person who is serving a sentence for an offense that makes an inmate ineligible for release to mandatory supervision.   

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2897 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 specifies that the reentry and reintegration plan is person centered.

The substitute does not include a prohibition against expending state funds to provide certain services to an applicable offender, but the substitute includes a prohibition against expending funds appropriated to TDCJ to provide residential housing assistance to such an offender.