HBA-TYH H.B. 1584 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1584 By: Naishtat Corrections 3/10/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, Project RIO, a program of the Texas Workforce Commission, provides job training and employment referral services to inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's (TDCJ) jail system. Eligibility for Project RIO continues while the individual is on parole until one year after parole is completed. The employment referral component of this program is instrumental in securing a job for the participants. Individuals who have been released and off parole for a year or more are ineligible for Project RIO, but can access local workforce development boards' job training programs. Such an individual participating in a local job training program could benefit from the employment referral component of Project RIO, but is unable to access such services. H.B. 1584 allows a local workforce development board to refer a person who was formerly an inmate in the TDCJ jail system, has been off parole for over a year, and who completes the local board's training program, to Project RIO. Individuals referred to Project RIO under this section would only be eligible for the employment referral component of the program. This limited referral would prevent any duplication of job training services and any significant increase in operating costs for Project RIO. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter G, Chapter 2308, Government Code, by adding Section 2308.3123, as follows: Sec. 2308.3123. REFERRAL TO PROJECT RIO. (a) Defines "Project RIO" as the project for reintegration of offenders established under Chapter 306 (Project Rio (Reintegration of Offenders)), Labor Code. (b) Authorizes a local workforce development board (board) to refer to the Texas Workforce Commission (commission) for participation in Project RIO a person who: (1) was formerly sentenced to the institutional division or the state jail division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; (2) fully discharged the person's sentence, including any period of parole or mandatory supervision, at least one year before the date of the board's referral; and (3) completed a job training program administered through the board under the local plan adopted under Section 2308.304 (Local Plan). SECTION 2. Amends Section 306.007, Labor Code, as follows: Sec. 306.007. New title: PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND SERVICES TO EXOFFENDERS AND EMPLOYERS. (a) Requires the commission, through Project RIO, to provide the employers and potential employers of those persons with information from the Texas Department of Economic Development, rather than Texas Department of Commerce, on the enterprise zone program and the smart jobs program. This information is listed among other enumerated information which the commission is required to provide to either those persons or the employers. (b) Makes conforming changes. (c) Requires the commission to provide the employment referral services provided under Section 306.002 (Project RIO) to a person referred to the project by a board. (d) Clarifies reference to the memoranda of understanding that the commission is required to develop by stating that it is required under Subsection (b). Modifies reference to the types of services received in the commission's required annual report describing the number of ex-offenders by identifying the services as information services and employment referral services under Subsection (c). SECTION 3.Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4.Emergency clause.