Bill Text: TX HB4044 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to the funding of community supervision and corrections departments.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-05-06 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB4044 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB4044-Comm_Sub.html

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86R28407 MAW-F
By: Dominguez H.B. No. 4044
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 4044:
By: White C.S.H.B. No. 4044

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the funding of community supervision and corrections
departments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 509.011, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (e), and (f) and adding Subsections
(e-1), (f-1), and (i) to read as follows:
(a) If the division determines that a department complies
with division standards and if the department has submitted a
strategic plan under Section 509.007 and the supporting information
required by the division and the division determines the plan and
supporting information are acceptable, the division shall prepare
and submit to the comptroller vouchers for payment to the
department as follows:
(1) for per capita funding, a per diem amount based on
the formula established under Subsection (e) for each felony
defendant who is [directly] supervised by the department pursuant
to lawful authority and:
(A) placed on community supervision; or
(B) participating in a pretrial diversion or
intervention program;
(2) for per capita funding, a per diem amount based on
the formula established under Subsection (e) for a period not to
exceed 182 days for each misdemeanor defendant who is supervised by
the department pursuant to lawful authority and placed on community
supervision [, other than a felony defendant]; and
(3) for formula funding, an annual amount as computed
by multiplying a percentage determined by the allocation formula
established under Subsection (f) times the total amount provided in
the General Appropriations Act for payments under this subdivision.
(e) The division annually shall establish a per capita
funding formula to determine the percentage of the total amount
provided in the General Appropriations Act for payments under
Subsections (a)(1) and (2) that each department is entitled to
receive. For purposes of funding distributed for a defendant
described by Subsection (a)(1)(A), the formula must include:
(1) a higher per capita funding rate for the
supervision of a defendant during the earliest period of the
defendant's community supervision term than the rate for the
supervision of a defendant during a later period of the defendant's
community supervision term;
(2) provisions to decrease per capita funding for each
defendant supervised by a department who has the defendant's
community supervision revoked due to a technical violation of a
condition of community supervision; and
(3) provisions to award additional per capita funding
based on each defendant supervised by a department who receives a
discharge following an early termination of community supervision
under Article 42A.111 or 42A.701, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
applicable.
(e-1) In establishing the per capita funding formula under
Subsection (e) [per diem payments authorized by Subsections (a)(1)
and (a)(2)], the division shall consider the amounts appropriated
in the General Appropriations Act for basic supervision as
sufficient to provide basic supervision in each year of the fiscal
biennium.
(f) The division annually shall compute for each department
for community corrections program formula funding a percentage
determined by assigning equal weights to the percentage of the
state's population residing in the counties served by the
department and the department's percentage of all felony defendants
in the state under direct community supervision. The division
shall use the most recent information available in making
computations under this subsection.
(f-1) The board by rule may adopt a policy limiting for all
departments the percentage of benefit or loss that may be realized
as a result of the operation of a [the] formula established under
Subsection (e) or (f).
(i) In this section, "technical violation" means any
violation of a condition of community supervision committed by a
defendant other than a violation that involves:
(1) being arrested for, charged with, or convicted of
an offense:
(A) punishable as a felony; or
(B) under Title 5, Penal Code, that is punishable
as a misdemeanor;
(2) the operation of a motor vehicle in a public place
while intoxicated, regardless of whether the defendant was arrested
for, charged with, or convicted of an offense based on that conduct;
(3) a failure to report to a supervision officer as
directed for 90 days or more if the supervision officer or a peace
officer or other officer attempted to contact the defendant in
person at the defendant's last known residential or employment
address; or
(4) leaving the state without permission.
SECTION 2. Chapter 509, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 509.0111 to read as follows:
Sec. 509.0111. GOALS REGARDING COMMITMENT REDUCTION. (a)
In implementing Sections 509.011(a)(1)(B), (b), and (e), the
division shall seek to:
(1) reduce the number of persons committed to the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice relative to crime and arrest
rates;
(2) reduce the number of defendants supervised by
departments;
(3) increase the rate of defendants' successful
completion of pretrial diversion programs or community supervision
relative to defendants' risk level;
(4) reduce the revocation rate of defendants placed on
community supervision; and
(5) reduce the recidivism rate of defendants
participating in pretrial diversion programs or placed on community
supervision.
(b) The division annually shall submit a report to the
governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of
representatives, and each member of the legislature on the
division's efforts under Subsection (a), including the extent to
which progress has been made toward meeting the goals described by
that subsection.
(c) The division shall establish standards related to the
use of state aid for pretrial diversion programs in accordance with
the goals described by Subsection (a) and may discontinue the
payment of state aid to a recipient under those programs on the
basis of a repeated failure to achieve those goals.
(d) This section expires September 1, 2023.
SECTION 3. Section 509.014(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The division shall:
(1) review the funding formulas specified under
Section 509.011 and study the feasibility of adopting additional
performance-based components [funding formulas], including whether
the formulas should take into consideration an offender's risk
level or other appropriate factors in allocating funding; and
(2) make recommendations for modifying the current
funding formulas.
SECTION 4. (a) Not later than January 1, 2020, the
community justice assistance division of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice shall establish the per capita funding formula
required by Section 509.011(e), Government Code, as amended by this
Act, that is to be used for the state fiscal year beginning
September 1, 2020.
(b) Section 509.011, Government Code, as amended by this
Act, applies only to a payment based on an appropriation made for
any state fiscal year beginning on or after September 1, 2020.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.