Bill Text: TX SB1057 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Relating to the provision of funding for indigent defense services.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2015-06-15 - Effective on 9/1/15 [SB1057 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-SB1057-Engrossed.html

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By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 1057

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the provision of funding for indigent defense services.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 79.016(a) and (c), Government Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A board member who is a chief public defender for or [who
is] an attorney employed by an entity [a public defender's office in
a county] that applies for funds under Section 79.037 shall
disclose that fact before a vote by the board regarding an award of
funds to that entity [county] and may not participate in that [such
a] vote.
(c) The commission may not award funds under Section 79.037
to an entity [a county] served by a chief public defender or other
attorney who fails to make a disclosure to the board as required by
Subsection (a).
SECTION 2. Section 79.037, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), and (c) and adding Subsections (e),
(f), (g), and (h) to read as follows:
(a) The commission shall:
(1) provide technical support to:
(A) assist counties in improving their indigent
defense systems; and
(B) promote compliance by counties with the
requirements of state law relating to indigent defense;
(2) to assist a county [counties] in providing
indigent defense services in the county, distribute in the form of
grants any funds appropriated for the purposes of this section to
one or more of the following entities:
(A) the county;
(B) a law school's legal clinic or program that
provides indigent defense services in the county; and
(C) a regional public defender that meets the
requirements of Subsection (e) and provides indigent defense
services in the county; and
(3) monitor each entity [county] that receives a grant
under Subdivision (2) and enforce compliance [by the county] with
the conditions of the grant, including enforcement by:
(A) withdrawing grant funds; or
(B) requiring reimbursement of grant funds by the
entity [county].
(b) The commission shall determine for each county the
entity or entities within the county that are eligible to receive
[distribute] funds for the provision of indigent defense services
under [as required by] Subsection (a)(2). The determination must
be made based on the entity's:
(1) [a county's] compliance with standards adopted by
the board; and
(2) [the county's] demonstrated commitment to
compliance with the requirements of state law relating to indigent
defense.
(c) The board shall adopt policies to ensure that funds
under Subsection (a)(2) are allocated and distributed [to counties]
in a fair manner.
(e) The commission may distribute funds under Subsection
(a)(2) to a regional public defender's office formed under Article
26.044, Code of Criminal Procedure, if:
(1) the regional public defender's office serves two
or more counties, each with a population of less than 100,000;
(2) each county that enters an agreement to create or
designate and to jointly fund the regional public defender's office
satisfies the commission that the county will timely provide funds
to the office for at least half of the office's operational costs
for the duration of the grant;
(3) each participating county by local rule adopts and
submits to the commission guidelines under Article 26.04(f), Code
of Criminal Procedure, detailing the types of cases to be assigned
to the office; and
(4) each participating county and the regional public
defender's office agrees in writing to a method that the commission
determines to be appropriate under Subsection (f) to pay all costs
associated with the defense of cases assigned to the office that
remain pending in the county after the termination of the agreement
or the county's participation in the agreement.
(f) The commission shall select, by rule or under a contract
with a regional public defender's office, a method for the payment
of costs under Subsection (e)(4), which may include any combination
of the following:
(1) allowing an office to establish and maintain a
reserve of funds sufficient to cover anticipated costs, in an
amount determined appropriate by the commission;
(2) guaranteeing all or part of the costs to be paid;
or
(3) establishing a schedule of fees for the payment of
costs in the manner provided by Article 26.05, Code of Criminal
Procedure.
(g) Any change to a schedule of fees established under
Subsection (f)(3) must first be approved by the commission.
(h) A regional public defender's office shall collect each
participating county's portion of the operational costs as that
portion is provided by the county to the office.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.