By: Whitmire S.B. No. 2190

(In the Senate - Filed March 8, 2019; March 21, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; March 27, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; March 27, 2019, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the confinement of juveniles in certain facilities.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 203.018, Human Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 203.018. SPECIALIZED PROGRAMS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS. (a) The department shall develop specialized programs for children with a determinate sentence and children committed under Section 54.04013, Family Code. The programs must ensure safety and security for committed children and provide developmentally appropriate program strategies.

(b) The department shall establish performance-based goals related to improved outcomes that:

(1) must include measures to reduce recidivism; and

(2) shall include other well-being outcome measures.

(c) The department shall use case review strategies to identify children in department facilities who can safely and appropriately be transferred to alternative local placements or halfway houses, placed on parole, or discharged from the department.

(d) The department shall study and report to the board on the potential for repurposing existing secure facilities for the confinement of children with a determinate sentence or children committed under Section 54.04013, Family Code, or for other purposes.

[(e) The department or any local probation department may not use or contract with a facility that was constructed or previously used for the confinement of adult offenders.]

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.

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