Given that probation has become a costly driver of mass incarceration in Texas, with nearly one-third of people entering state confinement due to a probation revocation, it is imperative to reduce unnecessary probation conditions and related fees, provide appropriate treatment supports so people can stabilize, and offer more opportunities to shorten or end people’s probation terms.
HB 385 (Authors: Pacheco, White, Campos, Button, Krause | Sponsor: Hughes), Relating to conditions of community supervision and procedures applicable to the reduction or termination of a defendant’s period of community supervision. A judge can authorize a person’s probation officer to modify their probation conditions to prioritize court-ordered conditions based on the person’s progress under supervision. Furthermore, probation conditions can no longer require a person to avoid people or places of “disreputable or harmful character.”
Either the Department of State Health Services or the probation department supervising a person must develop a continuum of care treatment plan for that person if they are sentenced to a term in a substance abuse felony punishment facility as a condition of probation.
A judge must consider whether a person has the resources or income to pay probation- and programming-related fees, fines, and costs; the judge must do so: (1) before or immediately after placing the person on probation, including deferred adjudication community supervision, as well as (2) during the probation period, specifically before or immediately after ordering or requiring the probationer to make payments. This does not apply to consideration of a person’s ability to pay restitution. Further, the court must reconsider whether the person has sufficient resources or income to make payments at probation violation hearings. However, a probationer can file a written statement with the court requesting a reconsideration of their ability to make payments and requesting that a payment be satisfied by an alternative method – including all or a portion of the payment being paid at a later date or by payment plan, complete or partial waiver of the payment, discharge of the payment through community service, or any combination of these methods. The probationer can file this statement once every six months, unless they show a substantial and compelling reason for making an additional request during that period. The judge must review the probationer’s statement and consider whether their ability to make a previously ordered payment is substantially hindered; if so, the judge must determine whether an alternative method is acceptable, then notify the probationer and the prosecuting attorney of their decision. Complete or partial waiver of a monthly reimbursement fee is only permitted if, after waiving all other necessary fines and fees, the judge determines that the probationer still does not have sufficient resources or income to make the payment.
Separately, after a person completes half of their original probation period or two years of probation, whichever is more, the judge must review their record and consider whether to reduce or terminate the probation period. For probationers who, during that review, were delinquent in paying restitution or had not completed court-ordered counseling or treatment, their probation officer must notify the judge when those activities have been completed and the probationer is in compliance with all probation conditions. At that point, the judge must review the person’s record and consider whether or not to reduce or terminate the probation period. In making the determination, the judge can consider any relevant factors, including whether the probationer is delinquent in paying court-ordered costs, fines, or fees that they are able to pay. If the judge does not terminate the person’s probation period, the judge must promptly advise the person’s probation officer of the reasons, and the probation officer must in turn promptly advise the person.
Finally, in regard to people earning time off their probation period for successful program completion, this bill expands the list of eligible programs to include faith-based, volunteer, or community-based programs ordered or approved by the court, and it authorizes a 30-day credit for such programming. Signed by the Governor; effective on 9/1/2021