HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

COMMITTEE:    Juvenile Justice & Family Issues 

TIME & DATE:  10:00 AM, Tuesday, August 9, 2022 

PLACE:        E2.014 
CHAIR:        Rep. Victoria Neave 

The Committee will meet to discuss the following interim charges:

Interim Charge #1: Monitor the agencies and programs under the Committee’s jurisdiction and oversee the implementation of relevant legislation passed by the 87th Legislature. Conduct active oversight of all associated rulemaking and other governmental actions taken to ensure the intended legislative outcome of all legislation, including the following: 

·       HB 4544, relating to providing children committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department with certain documents on discharge or release, authorizing a fee.

Interim Charge #4: Explore ways to modernize the juvenile justice system for youth on probation and incarcerated youth. Review statewide resource allocation, including available staffing, and identify potential geographic limitations. Investigate the best practices of smaller specialized facilities for youth committed to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department while leveraging the Department's current facilities and staff. Analyze the current gaps in county-level services and funding and make recommendations to address those gaps.

Interim Charge #5: Examine workforce issues at state and local juvenile correctional facilities and consider the state's incentives to recruit quality staff. Consider the geographic areas where specialty providers are concentrated and the viability of opening specialized facilities for the state's youth with the highest therapeutic need to relieve the state's current rural facilities struggling with staffing. Consider consistent investments the state can make in local probation to encourage their facilities to divert youth from the juvenile justice system.

For those persons who will be testifying, information for in-person witness registration, can be found here: https://mytxlegis.capitol.Texas.gov/HWRSPublic/About.aspx

A live video broadcast of this hearing will be available here: https://house.texas.gov/video-audio/

Instructions related to public access to the meeting location and health and safety protocols for attending this meeting are available here: https://house.texas.gov/committees/public-access-house-committee-meetings/

Texas residents who wish to electronically submit comments related to agenda items on this notice without testifying in person can do so until the hearing is adjourned by visiting: https://comments.house.texas.gov/?c=c340

Monitor agencies under Committee jurisdiction.

Monitor implementation of HB 4544.

Explore ways to modernize Juvenile Justice system.

Examine workforce issues at state/local juvenile facilities

NOTICE OF ASSISTANCE AT PUBLIC MEETINGS

Persons with disabilities who plan to attend this meeting and who may need assistance, such as a sign language interpreter, are requested to contact Stacey Nicchio at (512) 463-0850, 72 hours prior to the meeting so that appropriate arrangements can be made.