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  By: Carona, West S.B. No. 1055
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to reports concerning and the reporting of the use of
  certain funds by community supervision and corrections departments
  and to the preparation of commitment reduction plans by those
  departments.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 76.003, Government Code,
  is amended to read as follows:
         (b)  A council should consist of the following persons or
  their designees:
               (1)  a sheriff of a county served by the department,
  chosen by the sheriffs of the counties to be served by the
  department;
               (2)  a county commissioner or a county judge from a
  county served by the department, chosen by the county commissioners
  and county judges of the counties served by the department;
               (3)  a city council member of the most populous
  municipality in a county served by the department, chosen by the
  members of the city councils of cities served by the department;
               (4)  not more than two state legislators elected from a
  county served by the department, or in a county with a population of
  one million or more to be served by the department, not more than
  one state senator and one state representative elected from the
  county, chosen by the state legislators elected from the county or
  counties served by the department;
               (5)  the presiding judge from a judicial district
  served by the department, chosen by the district judges from the
  judicial districts served by the department;
               (6)  a judge of a statutory county court exercising
  criminal jurisdiction in a county served by the department, chosen
  by the judges of statutory county courts with criminal jurisdiction
  in the counties served by the department;
               (7)  a county attorney with criminal jurisdiction from
  a county served by the department, chosen by the county attorneys
  with criminal jurisdiction from the counties served by the
  department;
               (8)  a district attorney or criminal district attorney
  from a judicial district served by the department, chosen by the
  district attorneys or criminal district attorneys from the judicial
  districts served by the department; [and]
               (9)  an elected member of the board of trustees of an
  independent school district in a county served by the department,
  chosen by the members of the boards of trustees of independent
  school districts located in counties served by the department; and
               (10)  the department director.
         SECTION 2.  Chapter 492, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Section 492.017 to read as follows:
         Sec. 492.017.  LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST.
  (a)  The board shall require the department to submit each
  legislative appropriations request, accompanied by the most recent
  report prepared by the community justice assistance division of the
  department under Section 509.004(c), to the board for approval
  before the department submits the appropriations request to the
  Legislative Budget Board.
         (b)  In deciding whether to approve a legislative
  appropriations request submitted under Subsection (a), the board
  shall consider the most recent report prepared by the community
  justice assistance division of the department under Section
  509.004(c).
         SECTION 3.  Chapter 493, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Section 493.0081 to read as follows:
         Sec. 493.0081.  LEGISLATIVE APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST. The
  department shall include in each legislative appropriations
  request submitted to the Legislative Budget Board the information
  contained in the most recent report prepared by the community
  justice assistance division under Section 509.004(c).
         SECTION 4.  Section 509.004, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Subsections (c), (d), and (e) to read as follows:
         (c)  The division shall prepare a report that contains a
  detailed summary of the programs and services provided by
  departments, as described in each community justice plan submitted
  to the division under Section 509.007. The report must include:
               (1)  all financial information relating to the programs
  and services described in each community justice plan; and
               (2)  information concerning the amount of state aid and
  funding that is not state aid used to support each program or
  service provided by a department.
         (d)  As soon as is practicable after the completion of the
  report, the division shall submit the report prepared under
  Subsection (c) to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and the
  executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
         (e)  Not later than the date on which the Texas Department of
  Criminal Justice is required to submit the department's legislative
  appropriations request to the Legislative Budget Board, the
  division shall submit the report prepared under Subsection (c) to
  the Legislative Budget Board.
         SECTION 5.  Section 509.007, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 509.007.  COMMUNITY JUSTICE PLAN. (a)  The division
  shall require as a condition to payment of state aid to a department
  or county under Section 509.011 and eligibility for payment of
  costs under Section 499.124 that a community justice plan be
  submitted for the department.  The community justice council shall
  submit the plan required by this subsection.  A community justice
  council may not submit a plan under this section unless the plan is
  first approved by the judges described by Section 76.002 who
  established the department served by the council.  The council
  shall submit a revised plan to the division each even-numbered
  [odd-numbered] year not later than March 1 [by a date designated by
  the division].  A plan may be amended at any time with the approval
  of the division.
         (b)  A community justice plan required under this section
  must include:
               (1)  a statement of goals and priorities and of
  commitment by the community justice council, the judges described
  by Section 76.002 who established the department, and the
  department director to achieve a targeted level of alternative
  sanctions;
               (2)  a description of methods for measuring the success
  of programs provided by the department or provided by an entity
  served by the department; [and]
               (3)  a proposal for the use of state jail felony
  facilities and, at the discretion of the community justice council,
  a regional proposal for the construction, operation, maintenance,
  or management of a state jail felony facility by a county, a
  community supervision and corrections department, or a private
  vendor under a contract with a county or a community supervision and
  corrections department;
               (4)  a description of the programs and services the
  department provides or intends to provide, including a separate
  description of any programs or services the department intends to
  provide to enhance public safety, reduce recidivism, strengthen the
  investigation and prosecution of criminal offenses, improve
  programs and services available to victims of crime, and increase
  the amount of restitution collected from persons supervised by the
  department; and
               (5)  an outline of the department's projected
  programmatic and budgetary needs, based on the programs and
  services the department both provides and intends to provide.
         SECTION 6.  Chapter 509, Government Code, is amended by
  adding Section 509.0071 to read as follows:
         Sec. 509.0071.  COMMITMENT REDUCTION PLAN. (a)  In addition
  to submitting a community justice plan to the division under
  Section 509.007, a department or a regional partnership of
  departments may submit a commitment reduction plan to the division
  not later than the 60th day after the date on which the time for
  gubernatorial action on the state budget has expired under Section
  14, Article IV, Texas Constitution.
         (b)  A commitment reduction plan submitted under this
  section may contain a request for additional state funding in the
  manner described by Subsection (e).  A commitment reduction plan
  must contain:
               (1)  a target number by which the county or counties
  served by the department or regional partnership of departments
  will, relative to the number of individuals committed in the
  preceding state fiscal year from the county or counties to the Texas
  Department of Criminal Justice for offenses not listed in or
  described by Section 3g, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure,
  reduce that number in the fiscal year for which the commitment
  reduction plan is submitted by reducing the number of:
                     (A)  direct sentencing commitments;
                     (B)  community supervision revocations; or
                     (C)  direct sentencing commitments and community
  supervision revocations;
               (2)  a calculation, based on the most recent Criminal
  Justice Uniform Cost Report published by the Legislative Budget
  Board, of the savings to the state that will result from the county
  or counties reaching the target number described by Subdivision
  (1);
               (3)  an explanation of the programs and services the
  department or regional partnership of departments intends to
  provide using any funding received under Subsection (e)(1),
  including any programs or services designed to enhance public
  safety, reduce recidivism, strengthen the investigation and
  prosecution of criminal offenses, improve programs and services
  available to victims of crime, and increase the amount of
  restitution collected from persons supervised by the department or
  regional partnership of departments;
               (4)  a pledge by the department or regional partnership
  of departments to provide accurate data to the division at the time
  and in the manner required by the division;
               (5)  a pledge to repay to the state, not later than the
  30th day after the last day of the state fiscal year in which the
  lump-sum award is made, a percentage of the lump sum received under
  Subsection (e)(1) that is equal to the percentage by which the
  county or counties fail to reach the target number described by
  Subdivision (1), if the county or counties do not reach that target
  number; and
               (6)  if the commitment reduction plan is submitted by a
  regional partnership of departments, an agreement and plan for the
  receipt, division, and administration of any funding received under
  Subsection (e).
         (c)  For purposes of Subsection (b)(5), if the target number
  contained in the commitment reduction plan is described by
  Subsection (b)(1)(B), the county or counties fail to reach the
  target number if the sum of any increase in the number of direct
  sentencing commitments and any reduction in community supervision
  revocations is less than the target number contained in the
  commitment reduction plan.
         (d)  A pledge described by Subsection (b)(4) or (5) must be
  signed by:
               (1)  the director of the department submitting the
  commitment reduction plan; or
               (2)  if the commitment reduction plan is submitted by a
  regional partnership of departments, a director of one of the
  departments in the regional partnership submitting the commitment
  reduction plan.
         (e)  After reviewing a commitment reduction plan, if the
  division is satisfied that the plan is feasible and would achieve
  desirable outcomes, the division may award to the department or
  regional partnership of departments:
               (1)  a one-time lump sum in an amount equal to 35
  percent of the savings to the state described by Subsection (b)(2);
  and
               (2)  on a biennial basis, and from the 65 percent of the
  savings to the state that remains after payment of the lump sum
  described by Subdivision (1), the following incentive payments for
  the department's or regional partnership's performance in the two
  years immediately preceding the payment:
                     (A)  15 percent, for reducing the percentage of
  persons supervised by the department or regional partnership of
  departments who commit a new felony while under supervision;
                     (B)  five percent, for increasing the percentage
  of persons supervised by the department or regional partnership of
  departments who are not delinquent in making any restitution
  payments; and
                     (C)  five percent, for increasing the percentage
  of persons supervised by the department or regional partnership of
  departments who are gainfully employed, as determined by the
  division.
         (f)  A department or regional partnership of departments may
  use funds received under Subsection (e) to provide any program or
  service that a department is authorized to provide under other law,
  including implementing, administering, and supporting
  evidence-based community supervision strategies, electronic
  monitoring, substance abuse and mental health counseling and
  treatment, specialized community supervision caseloads,
  intermediate sanctions, victims' services, restitution collection,
  short-term incarceration in county jails, specialized courts,
  pretrial services and intervention programs, and work release and
  day reporting centers.
         (g)  Any funds received by a department or regional
  partnership of departments under Subsection (e):
               (1)  are in addition to any per capita or formula
  funding received under Section 509.011; and
               (2)  may not be deducted from any per capita or formula
  funding received or to be received by:
                     (A)  another department, if the commitment
  reduction plan is submitted by a department; or
                     (B)  any department, if the commitment reduction
  plan is submitted by a regional partnership of departments.
         (h)  The division shall deduct from future state aid paid to
  a department, or from any incentive payments under Subsection
  (e)(2) for which a department is otherwise eligible, an amount
  equal to the amount of any pledge described by Subsection (b)(5)
  that remains unpaid on the 31st day after the last day of the state
  fiscal year in which a lump-sum award is made under Subsection
  (e)(1).  If the lump-sum award was made to a regional partnership of
  departments, the division shall deduct, in accordance with the
  agreement and plan described by Subsection (b)(6), the amount of
  the unpaid pledge from the future state aid to each department that
  is part of the partnership or from any incentive payments under
  Subsection (e)(2) for which the regional partnership of departments
  is otherwise eligible.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.