Texas Juvenile Justice Department gets 30 days to take custody

The text as introduced · 288 words

89R4610 MCF-D

By: Sparks
S.B. No. 468

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the period within which the Texas Juvenile Justice

Department must accept custody of a person committed to the

department and to the consequences for the failure of the

department to accept custody of the person within that period.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 54.04, Family Code, is amended by adding

Subsections (s) and (t) to read as follows:

(s) If the judge orders a disposition under this section

sentencing a person to commitment in the Texas Juvenile Justice

Department, the department shall accept custody of the person not

later than the 30th day after the date on which the judge signs the

disposition order committing the person to the department.

(t) If the Texas Juvenile Justice Department does not take

custody of a person within the period prescribed by Subsection (s),

the department shall compensate the county for the cost of

detention for each day that the person remains detained in a

facility operated by or under contract with the county following

the expiration of that period. The compensation must be equal to

the amount that would have been incurred by the department to detain

the person for that period.

SECTION 2. Section 243.002, Human Resources Code, is

amended by adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:

(c) Beginning on the 31st day after the date the child is

committed to the department, the department shall give credit

toward the minimum length of stay established for the child for time

spent in a pre-adjudication secure detention facility before the

child's transfer to the department.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect January 1, 2026.