Honorable James White, Chair, House Committee on Corrections
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1653 by White (relating to pretrial diversion programs funded by the community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined at this time as the cost to the State for the expansion of per capita, per diem funding for felony and misdemeanor defendants supervised on pretrial diversion programs cannot be determined.
The bill would amend the Government Code as it relates to the Community Justice Assistance Division (CJAD) and pretrial diversion programs. The bill would require CJAD to establish and operate a pretrial diversion information management system. The bill would also amend the funding formula used by CJAD to fund local Community Supervision and Corrections Departments (CSCD) by adding a per capita, per diem amount for felons and misdemeanants who are supervised by CSCDs in pretrial diversion programs. The bill would require CJAD to give certain CSCDs priority when awarding pretrial diversion grants.
According to the Comptroller, the bill would have no revenue implications. The provision of the bill that expands per capita, per diem funding for felons and misdemeanants supervised in pretrial diversion programs would have an undetermined negative fiscal impact as the amount of the per capita, per diem cannot be determined. The bill would take effect September 1, 2019.
Local Government Impact
The provisions of the bill may increase state funding to local CSCDs for pretrial intervention services; however, the fiscal impact cannot be determined at this time.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 696 Department of Criminal Justice