HBA-LJP H.B. 1118 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1118
By: Goodman
Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
2/18/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Juvenile justice practitioners and officials who contributed to the
development of the juvenile justice reforms of previous legislative
sessions met over the course of several months, prior to this session, to
identify problem areas relating to the adjudication and disposition of
juvenile conduct and the administration of the juvenile justice system.
There were two primary workgroups with approximately 25 members each
representing judges, attorneys, probation officials, various state agencies
and universities that have an interest in the juvenile justice system.
House Bill 1118 sets forth provisions and modifications to the juvenile
justice system based on the recommendations of the workgroups. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission
and the Texas Youth Commission in SECTION 40 (Section 58.209, Family Code)
and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission in SECTION 58 (Section 141.061,
Human Resources Code) of this bill. 

ANALYSIS

Records and Files

House Bill 1118 provides for automatic restriction of access to records for
certain juvenile offenders.  The bill provides that sex offender
registration records, criminal combination or criminal street gang records,
and records indeterminate sentence or adult certification cases be exempt
from automatic restriction of access to records (Secs. 58.202 and 58.203,
Family Code). 

Under certain circumstances, the bill authorizes the Department of Public
Safety (DPS) to permit access to an individual's case information in the
system to a law enforcement agency, a prosecutor, certain probation
officers, a community supervision officer, and researchers for the Texas
Youth Commission (TYC), the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (TJPC), or
the Criminal Justice Policy Council (Sec. 58.204, Family Code).  The bill
also requires the juvenile court to order that certain records relating to
a juvenile case may be accessed under stipulated conditions to the same
persons or agencies that DPS is authorized to allow access.  When the
agency maintaining the record receives the court order, the agency is
authorized to allow access only under certain circumstances and otherwise
to state that the records do not exist (Sec. 58.207, Family Code). 

The bill also sets forth requirements relating to certification,
restriction, return, and deletion of a juvenile's records by certain
agencies, persons, or courts (Secs. 58.205 and 58.206, Family Code). 

The bill sets forth provisions that, under specified conditions, certain
officials are required to inform a child or the child's appropriate
guardian or parent of issues related to the access of the child's juvenile
record. The bill also requires the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) and Texas
Juvenile Probation Commission (TJPC) to adopt rules to implement these
provisions and facilitates the  effective explanation of the access to a
juvenile's record (Secs. 58.208 and 58.209, Family Code). 
 
The bill sets forth provisions relating to the expunction of certain
conviction records of children, and procedures for the court in an
expungement hearing (Art. 45.0216, Code of Criminal Procedure).  Under
stipulated circumstances, the bill authorizes certain persons to authorize
the destruction of the physical records and files of a juvenile case (Sec.
58.0071, Family Code). 

Information Systems

The bill sets forth the purpose of a local juvenile justice information
system (system), and the authorized and required components of the system
and for the collection and placement of certain information into the
system.  The bill also sets forth provisions for membership of a county in
a regional or local system and for the creation of a jointly maintained
system (Secs. 58.302 and 58.303, Family Code).  The bill further provides
for the type of information that is contained in the system (Sec. 58.304,
Family Code). 

The bill requires a local system, for a single county and a multi-county
region, to include certain  partner agencies within the county and the
region.  The bill also requires that governmental service providers and
governmental placement facilities that are approved members be included as
partner agencies within the local system of a multi-county region (Sec.
58.305, Family Code). 

The bill sets forth provisions relating to the level of access to
information to which each partner agency in the system is entitled (Sec.
58.306, Family Code).  The bill repeals certain provisions relating to
sanction levels of a juvenile's conduct. The bill provides that a juvenile
court is not required to report, as a deviation, a disposition that
deviates from the specified guidelines (Sec. 59.003, Family Code).  The
bill also sets forth provisions relating to the confidentiality,
destruction, sealing, or restricted access of information that is part of a
system (Sec. 58. 307, Family Code). 

The bill sets forth the duties of the juvenile board and modifies the
provisions relating to reports by the Criminal Justice Policy Council
(Secs. 59.011 and 59.012, Family Code). 

Sex Offender Registration

The bill sets forth provisions regarding a hearing to determine the need
for sex offender registration of a juvenile, the appeal of such a decision,
and excusing compliance of such a requirement (Art. 62.13, Code of Criminal
Procedure). 

Obtaining Information from a Juvenile in Custody

The bill provides that a statement taken by a law enforcement agency
officer, other than a designated peace officer of this state, from a child
in custody outside this state, is admissible in any juvenile justice
proceeding if it is obtained in compliance with the constitution of the
United States and the laws applicable to the place where the statement is
obtained (Secs. 54.035, Family Code and 38.221, Code of Criminal
Procedure). 

The bill sets forth provisions regarding a law enforcement officer who
takes a child temporarily into custody to take the child's fingerprints or
photograph for comparison in an investigation.  The bill also  provides
procedures for the destruction of the fingerprints and the photographs and
the audit to verify the destruction. The bill authorizes a law enforcement
officer to obtain fingerprints or photographs from a child at a juvenile
processing office or at a location that affords reasonable privacy to the
child (Secs. 58.0021 and 58.0022, Family Code). 

Court Jurisdiction and Transferring Cases between Courts

The bill provides that under certain conditions, the court retains
jurisdiction over a person, without regard to the age of the person, who is
a respondent in an adjudication proceeding, a disposition proceeding, or a
proceeding to modify disposition (Sec. 51.0412, Family Code). 

 The bill authorizes certain courts to employ case managers for juvenile
cases and authorizes, but does not require a court to waive original
jurisdiction if the court implements such a manager (Sec. 51.08, Family
Code and Art. 45.054, Code of Criminal Procedure).  H.B. 1118 amends the
Family Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to transfer certain
designation powers and duties of the juvenile court to the juvenile board
and sets forth the responsibilities of the juvenile board and juvenile
probation departments (Secs. 51.02, 51.04, 51.12, 52.01, 52.025, 52.027,
52.03, 52.04, 52.041, 53.01, 54.01, 54.044, 58.002, and 58.007, Family
Code); (Art. 15.27, Code of Criminal Procedure); (Secs. 152.001, 152.0007,
152.0008, and 152.0010, Human Resources Code). 

The bill requires TJPC to submit, not later than August 15 of each year, to
the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and
the governor, a report that contains specified statistical information
relating to children referred to a juvenile court during the preceding year
(Sec. 58.112, Family Code). 

Court Procedures

The bill provides that a jury, in a hearing on a petition of a violent or
habitual offender, must be selected in accordance with the requirements in
criminal cases (Sec. 54.03, Family Code). 


The bill modifies and sets forth provisions relating to the procedures of a
disposition hearing. The bill authorizes the court to make a disposition
for delinquent conduct that violates a penal law of the grade of
misdemeanor offense if the child has been adjudicated as having engaged in
delinquent conduct, excluding conduct that violates a lawful order of
courts that could constitute contempt of court, that is a felony offense on
at least one previous occasion and the conduct that is the basis of the
current adjudication occurred after the date of that previous adjudication
(Sec. 54.04, Family Code). 

The bill requires the district court to require the payment of any unpaid
restitution as a condition of community supervision, if the juvenile court
places the child on probation in a determinate sentence proceeding for
violent or habitual offenders and transfers supervision on the child's 18th
birthday to a district court for placement on community supervision.  The
bill also provides that the liability of a child's parent for restitution
may not be extended by a transfer to a district court for supervision (Sec.
54.041, Family Code). The bill authorizes the juvenile court in a
disposition hearing to order restitution be made by the child and the
child's parents whether or not the case contains a plea for restitution
(Sec. 54.048, Family Code). 

The bill adds that the reports of employees of TYC are to be considered by
the court at a hearing on the release or transfer of a juvenile who is
committed to TYC (Sec. 54.11, Family Code).  The bill sets forth provisions
for the juvenile court to authorize the detention or release on bond of
certain respondents, when an order for remand is received from the
appellate court (Sec. 51.041, Family Code). 

The bill provides that a person transferred from TYC for the offense of
capital murder is required to become eligible for parole in the statutorily
specified calender time for certain offenses (Sec. 499.0553, Government
Code).  The bill also provides that a person who was between 10 and 17
years of age when the person allegedly committed a capital felony or a
murder and the case is transferred from the juvenile court to the criminal
court, then the person may be prosecuted and convicted of the offense (Sec.
8.07, Penal Code). 

Contempt of Court
The bill authorizes the justice or municipal court to hold a child in
contempt and order the child to pay a fine not to exceed $500 or refer the
child to the appropriate juvenile court for delinquent conduct if the
justice or municipal court believes that a child has violated an order
relating to failure to attend school (Sec. 25.094 Education Code). 

The bill sets forth provisions relating to a justice or municipal court's
enforcement powers to hold a child in contempt of court for intentional or
knowing failure to obey a lawful order of disposition after adjudication of
guilt of an offense.  The bill prohibits a justice or municipal court from
ordering a child to a term of  confinement or imprisonment for contempt of
court (Sec. 54. 023, Family Code). 

Mentally Ill and Retarded Juveniles

The bill sets forth provisions with regard to the standard of care and
notice of release or furlough by  a residential care facility or a mental
health service facility for a child that is referred by a court for mental
health services (Sec. 55.45, Family Code). 

The bill requires the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental
Retardation or the appropriate community center to admit a child, who was
unfit to proceed or lacked responsibility for conduct because of mental
retardation, to a residential care facility on receipt of a court order
(Secs. 55.41 and 55.60, Family Code). 

Detention and Confinement Facilities

The bill provides that juvenile offenders be committed to include
facilities operated by or under contract with the juvenile board (Sec.
39.04, Penal Code).  The bill requires a report of alleged abuse or neglect
in any juvenile justice program or facility to be made to TJPC and a local
law enforcement agency for investigation (Sec. 261.405, Family Code). 

Administration

The bill amends the Human Resources Code to authorize TJPC to waive the
degree accreditation requirement if an applicant for probation officer
possesses a foreign or other degree that TJPC determines is the substantive
equivalent to a bachelor's degree. The bill requires TJPC to adopt rules
defining procedures to be used to request a waiver of the accreditation
requirement of a bachelor's degree conferred by an accredited college or
university (Sec. 141.061, Human Resource Code). 

The bill also sets forth provisions regarding persons who are prohibited to
act as a juvenile probation, detention, or corrections officers and persons
who are prohibited from carrying a firearm.  TYC employees are not
prohibited from carrying a firearm (Secs. 141.065 and141.066, Human
Resources Code). 

Immunity
The bill provides that a member of the juvenile board is not liable for
damages arising from an act or omission committed while performing the
duties as a board member (Sec. 152.0013, Human Resources Code).  The bill
provides that, except for gross negligence, the juvenile board and any
authorized employee are not liable for damages arising from the
administration of medication to a juvenile if the medication is
administered under the required provisions (Sec. 142.005, Human Resources
Code). 

Repealed Provisions

The bill repeals the provisions in the Human Resources Code that relate to
the memorandum of understanding on service contracts for dysfunctional
families (SECTION 69). 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.