H.B. No. 865

	AN ACT
	relating to establishing a veterans services coordinator for the
	Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a veterans reentry dorm
	program for certain state jail defendants confined by the
	department.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 501, Government Code, is
	amended by adding Section 501.025 to read as follows:
	Sec. 501.025.  VETERANS SERVICES COORDINATOR. (a)  The
	department shall establish a veterans services coordinator to
	coordinate responses to the needs of veterans under the supervision
	of the department, including veterans who are released on parole or
	mandatory supervision.  The veterans services coordinator, with the
	cooperation of the community justice assistance division, shall
	provide information to community supervision and corrections
	departments to help those departments coordinate responses to the
	needs of veterans placed on community supervision.  The veterans
	services coordinator shall coordinate veterans' services for all of
	the department's divisions.
	(b)  The veterans services coordinator, in collaboration
	with the attorney general's office, shall provide each incarcerated
	veteran a child support modification application.
	SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 507, Government Code, is
	amended by adding Section 507.034 to read as follows:
	Sec. 507.034.  VETERANS REENTRY DORM PROGRAM. (a) The
	department, in coordination with the Texas Veterans Commission,
	shall establish and administer a voluntary rehabilitation and
	transition program for defendants confined in state jail felony
	facilities:
	(1)  who are veterans of the United States armed
	forces, including veterans of the reserves, national guard, or
	state guard; and
	(2)  who suffer from a brain injury, a mental illness, a
	mental disorder, including post-traumatic stress disorder, or
	substance abuse, or were victims of military sexual trauma, as
	defined by Section 124.002, that:
	(A)  occurred during or resulted from their
	military service; and
	(B)  may have contributed to their criminal
	activity.
	(b)  The program established under this section must:
	(1)  provide for investigating and verifying the
	veteran status of each defendant confined in a state jail felony
	facility by using data made available from the Veterans Reentry
	Search Service (VRSS) operated by the United States Department of
	Veterans Affairs or a similar service;
	(2)  be available to male defendants and, if resources
	are available, female defendants;
	(3)  include provisions regarding interviewing and
	selecting defendants for participation in the program;
	(4)  allow a defendant to decline participation in the
	program or to withdraw from the program at any time;
	(5)  house defendants participating in the program in
	housing that is designed to mimic the squadron structure familiar
	to veterans;
	(6)  coordinate and provide available services and
	programming approved by the department, including:
	(A)  individual and group peer support
	programing, as appropriate;
	(B)  access to military trauma-informed licensed
	mental health professional counseling, as appropriate;
	(C)  evidence-based rehabilitation programming;
	and
	(D)  reemployment services; and
	(7)  to the extent feasible, not later than the 60th day
	before the date a defendant participating in the program is
	scheduled for release or discharge from the department:
	(A)  match the defendant with community-based
	veteran peer support services to assist the defendant in
	transitioning into the community; and
	(B)  transfer the defendant to a state jail felony
	facility located near the defendant's home community, or the
	community in which the defendant intends to reside after the
	defendant's release or discharge, to begin establishing transition
	relationships with community-based veteran peer support service
	providers and family members.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 865 was passed by the House on April
	25, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 113, Nays 30, 2 present, not
	voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	I certify that H.B. No. 865 was passed by the Senate on May
	24, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 29, Nays 2.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	APPROVED:  _____________________
	Date
	_____________________
	Governor