By: Cook (Senate Sponsor - Perry) H.B. No. 4263

(In the Senate - Received from the House May 9, 2025; May 12, 2025, read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice; May 21, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 21, 2025, sent to printer.) Click here to see the committee vote

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 4263 By: Flores

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the procedures and practices of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department regarding grievances submitted by department employees and former department employees and to the eligibility of a person to be appointed to the department's release review panel and the authority of a panel member.

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

SECTION 1. Section 242.004(c), Human Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) The department shall establish procedures and practices governing:

(1) employment-related grievances submitted by department employees; and

(2) grievances challenging disciplinary termination of employment [disciplinary actions within the department, including a procedure allowing a department employee to elect to participate in an independent dismissal mediation if the employee is recommended for dismissal].

SECTION 2. Section 245.101(c), Human Resources Code, is amended to read as follows:

(c) The executive director shall determine the size of the panel described by Subsection (b) and the length of the members' terms of service on the panel. The panel must consist of an odd number of members and the terms of the panel's members must last for at least two years. The executive director shall adopt policies that ensure the transparency, consistency, and objectivity of the panel's composition, procedures, and decisions. The executive director shall appoint persons to serve as members of the panel. A person appointed to the panel must be a department employee [who works at the department's central office]. A member of the panel may not be involved in any determination under this chapter [supervisory decisions] concerning a child [children] in the custody of the department for whom that panel member has made a supervisory decision.

SECTION 3. As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Act, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department shall establish the procedures and practices required by Section 242.004(c), Human Resources Code, as amended by this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

* * * * *