1. (a) Policy. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice (board) acknowledges the judiciary's statutory responsibility and the valuable and critical role of the judiciary in the growth, development, and implementation of community corrections policies and programs in Texas. The Judicial Advisory Council (council) is intended to provide a structure for fulfilling that role.

2. (b) State-level Role of the Council. In accordance with Texas Government Code, §493.003(b), the function of the Judicial Advisory Council is to advise the board and the director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Community Justice Assistance Division (TDCJ-CJAD) on matters of interest to the judiciary. To accomplish this purpose, the council shall:

   1. (1) act as an information exchange and provide expert advice to the board;
   2. (2) report to the board annually during the third quarter of the fiscal year on the status and needs of the community corrections component of the criminal justice system; and
   3. (3) conduct a review of requests for funding of community corrections programs and projects to TDCJ-CJAD, and make recommendations to the director of TDCJ-CJAD on the funding of reviewed requests, subject to the review, ratification, and final judgment by the board, if such review is determined to be necessary by the executive director of the Department of Criminal Justice (department).

3. (c) Local-level Role of the Council. In addition to the duties set out in subsection (b) of this section, the council shall:

   1. (1) inform and educate, in an appropriate manner, the constituencies that their members represent about issues and procedures that are affecting the corrections system of Texas;
   2. (2) coordinate its activities with the community justice liaison member of the board, the director of TDCJ-CJAD, the local community supervision and corrections departments (CSCDs), and any other significant entities identified by the director of TDCJ-CJAD or the executive director of the department; and
   3. (3) provide a forum for exchange of information and a dialogue with the network of local CSCDs on matters involving community corrections programs.
4. (d) Additional Authority of the Council. The chair of the council may appoint committees of council members or advisory groups of non-council members to achieve the purposes of this section. The chair of the council shall consult with the director of TDCJ-CJAD regarding the scheduling of meetings of the council, committees of the council, or advisory groups to the council, to ensure that arrangements can be made and that sufficient funds exist to allow reimbursement of expenses for attendance, where authorized by law.

Source Note:The provisions of this §161.21 adopted to be effective February 12, 1991, 16 TexReg 472; amended to be effective January 2, 1992, 16 TexReg 7539; amended to be effective October 13, 1997, 22 TexReg 9895; amended to be effective April 24, 2002, 27 TexReg 3367.