Week of March 21
Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.
March 21
House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
Charge: Indigent defense and innocence projects
- Conviction Integrity Unit Best Practices, The Innocence Project, October 15, 2015
- An Evaluation of the Texas Innocence Projects: A Report to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute and Texas Indigent Defense Commission, May 15, 2015
- Indigent Defense Data for Texas (County-by-county data on indigent defense expenditures, plans, attorney caseloads, number of cases, grants and funding), Texas Indigent Defense Commission, Fiscal Year 2015 (and earlier)
- Guidelines for Indigent Defense Caseloads: A Report to the Texas Indigent Commission, Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute and Texas Indigent Defense Commission, January 15, 2015
- Improving Indigent Defense: Evaluation of the Harris County Public Defender, Council of State Governments Justice Center, September 30, 2013
- When Excessive Public Defender Workloads Violate the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel Without a Showing of Prejudice, American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, March 2011
- Interim Report to the 82nd Legislature (Charge 3 - Performance of Fair Defense Act and Task Force on Indigent Defense), Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, December 2010
- Justice Denied: America’s Continuing Neglect of Our Constitutional Right to Counsel, National Right to Counsel Committee, The Constitution Project, April 2009
House Select Committee on Emerging Issues In Texas Law Enforcement
Charge 1: Body cameras, minimum standards set by SB 158, 84th R.S.
- "Concerns Raised about Accessibility of Police Body Camera Footage," Houston Chronicle, February 7, 2016
- "States Grapple with Public Disclosure of Police Body-Camera Footage," Stateline (Pew Charitable Trusts), September 22, 2015
- "What We Can Learn From the Police That Pioneered Body Cameras," Governing, April 13, 2015
- The Use of Body-Worn Cameras by Law Enforcement: Guidelines for Use and Background Paper, The constitution Project Committee on Policing Reforms, January 28, 2015
- Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned, U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Police Executive Research Forum, 2014
- Body Worn Camera Policies, Texas Commission on Law Enforcement
Senate Select Committee on Property Tax Reform & Relief
Charge: Property tax process, including appraisal system
- Committee Introductory Presentation, Senate Select Committee for Property Tax Reform & Relief, January 27, 2016
- Overview of Property Tax System in Texas (Presentation), Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, December 7, 2015
- Texas State Government Effectiveness and Efficiency: Selected Issues and Recommendations (Property Appraisals), Legislative Budget Board, January 2015
- Appraising the Appraisals: Local Values and Property Taxes, Texas Taxpayers and Research Association, July 2014
- Interim Charge Recommendations to the 82nd Legislature (Property Tax System), Senate Committee on Finance, January 2011
- Interim Report to the 82nd Texas Legislature (Property Tax Appraisals), House Committee on Ways & Means, January 2011
- Interim Report (Property Tax Appraisal System), Senate Finance Subcommittee on Property Appraisal and Revenue Caps, January 2009
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature, House Select Committee on Property Tax Relief and Appraisal Reform, December 2008
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature (Charge 4), House Committee on Local Government Ways and Means, December 2008
- Findings and Recommendations: a Report from the Texas Task Force on Appraisal Reform, Texas Task Force on Appraisal Reform, January 2007
- Texas Property Tax System, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Charge: Reducing tax burden
- "In U.S., State Tax Burden Linked to Desire to Leave State ," Gallup, February 12, 2016
- State-Local Tax Burden Rankings FY 2012 and State and Local Tax Burden, 1977-2012, Tax Foundation, January 2016
March 22
House Committee on Business & Industry
Charge 7: Designated doctor process in the Texas workers' compensation system
- Designated Doctor Resources and Information, Designated Doctors and Appointments by County and Month, Designated Doctor Update, Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation
Charge 8: Benefits for injured employees in the Texas workers' compensation system who qualify for lifetime income benefits, death benefits
- Workers' Compensation Income and Medical Benefits (including Lifetime Income Benefits, Death and Burial Benefits), Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation, last updated October 20, 2015
- Income Benefit Adequacy in the Texas Workers’ Compensation System, 2000-2011, Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Research and Evaluation Group, July 3, 2013
- Interim Report to the 83rd Legislature (Charge 2 - Adequacy of workers' compensation benefits), Senate Committee on State Affairs, December 2012
- Interim Report to the 82nd Legislature (Charges 10-11 - Workers' compensation benefits), Senate Committee on State Affairs, December 2010
Charge 10: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies
House Select Committee on Mental Health
Topic: Children's mental health/behavioral health, including, but not limited to clinical medicine, treatment, public education, and juvenile justice
- Behavioral Health Barometer, Texas, 2015, U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, February 2016
- State Mental Health Legislation 2015: Trends, Themes & Effective Practices (Children and youth, appendix 7: children and youth, appendix 8: school mental health, appendix 13: juvenile justice), National Alliance on Mental Illness, December 2015
- Achieving Well-Being for Children and Youth: Texas System of Care Consortium 2014 Legislative Report, Texas System of Care Consortium, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, 2015
- Are the Children Well? A Model and Recommendations for Promoting the Mental Wellness of the Nation's Young People, Child Trends, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, July 2014
- Improving Children's Mental Health, Legisbrief, National Conference of State Legislatures, January 2014
- Children's Mental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
House Committee on Business & Industry
Charge 6: Requirement for state agencies to purchase insurance through the State Office of Risk Management (SORM)
- Op. Tex. Att’y Gen. No. GA-1061 (2014), Whether state agencies, including institutions of higher education, must obtain approval from the State Office of Risk Management prior to purchasing insurance coverage (RQ-1169-GA), Attorney General of Texas, May 21, 2014
- Risk Management for Texas State Agencies Guidelines, State Office of Risk Management
Charge 10: Legislative oversight and monitoring of agencies
Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs & Military Installations, Subcommittee on Border Security
Charge: Local law enforcement and federal Priority Enforcement Program (PEP)
- "Texas Sheriffs, Jails on Immigration Front Line," Texas Tribune, February 16, 2016 and Bordering on Insecurity (Border Security and Immigration Series), Texas Tribune
- Detainer Use Stabilizes Under Priority Enforcement Program, Transactional Records Access Clearing House(TRAC), January 21, 2016
- "Activists Sue 10 Federal Agencies Over Secrecy in Deporting Alleged Criminals," Texas Tribune, January 20, 2016
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature (Charge - Border security) , Senate Committee on International Relations and Trade, January 2009
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature (Charge 7), House Committee on Corrections, January 2009
- Interim Report to the 81st Legislature (Charge 3 - Illegal immigration and border security), House Committee on County Affairs, December 2008
- Report to the 81st Legislature (Charge - Border security), Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security, December 2008
- Priority Enforcement Program, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
March 24
House Committees on Higher Education and Appropriations, Subcommittee on Article III (Joint Hearing)
Joint charge: Community college funding
- Texas Community and Technical Colleges Funding Formulas for the FY 2018-2019 Biennium, Recommendations of the Community and Technical Colleges Formula Advisory Committee (CTCFAC), Draft Report, Community and Technical Colleges Formula Advisory Committee, January 2016
- Commissioner’s Charge to the Community and Technical Colleges Formula Advisory Committee (CTCFAC) for the 2018-2019 Biennial Appropriations (Overview of competency-based education), Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, October 2015
- Commissioner’s Charge to the Community and Technical Colleges Formula Advisory Committee (CTCFAC) for the 2018-2019 Biennial Appropriations (Overview of college funding formulas and THECB’s formula funding recommendations for 2014), Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, August 2015
- Performance-Based Funding for Higher Education, National Conference of State Legislatures, July 31, 2015
- "States to Colleges: Prove You're Worth It," Stateline (Pew Charitable Trusts), July 28, 2015
- Federal and State Funding of Higher Education: A Changing Landscape, Pew Charitable Trusts, June 11, 2015
- Issue Brief: How Higher Education Funding Shortchanges Community Colleges, The Century Foundation, May 28, 2015
- Community Colleges in Context: Exploring Financing of Two- and Four-Year Institutions (included in Bridging the Higher Education Divide: Strengthening Community Colleges and Restoring the American Dream), Century Foundation Task Force on Preventing Community Colleges from Becoming Separate and Unequal, May 23, 2013
- Financing Higher Education in Texas: Legislative Primer, 5th Edition, Legislative Budget Board, February 2013
