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.