All Roll Calls
Yes: 139 • No: 0
TexasSB 240589th Legislature Regular SessionSenateWALLET
Relating to the continuation and functions of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and to the functions of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee, the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments, and the Windham School District.
Sponsored By: Keith Bell, César Blanco (Democratic), Terry Canales, Sam Harless, Lacey Hull, Stan Kitzman, Mayes Middleton (Republican), Tan Parker (Republican), Angela Paxton (Republican), Kevin Sparks (Republican)
Signed by Governor
WINDHAM SCHOOL DISTRICTCorrections--Jails & PrisonsCorrections--Parole, Probation & PardonsDisabilities, Persons withEducation--Higher--Institutions & ProgramsEducation--School DistrictsLaw EnforcementSalaries & ExpensesState Agencies, Boards & Commissions--Newly ProposedSunset--Commission BillsMANDATORY & COMMUNITY SUPERVISIONSTAFF DEVELOPMENT & TRAININGTECHNICAL EDUCATIONAUDITOR, STATECORRECTIONAL OFFICE ON OFFENDERS WITH MEDICAL OR MENTAL IMPAIRMENTS, TEXASCRIMINAL JUSTICE, TEXAS BOARD OFCRIMINAL JUSTICE, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OFHEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSIONHIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD, TEXASINSPECTOR GENERAL, OFFICE OF (TEXAS BOARD OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE)LICENSING & REGULATION, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OFPARDONS & PAROLES, BOARD OFPOSTSECONDARY EDUCATION ADVISORY BOARDWORKFORCE COMMISSION, TEXAS
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23 provisions identified: 14 benefits, 1 costs, 8 mixed.
Elderly inmates gain medical release eligibility
An inmate identified as elderly can qualify for medically recommended intensive supervision without another listed condition. Release still requires medical identification, a parole panel finding of no public-safety threat, and an approved supervision plan. Qualifying does not guarantee release. Death sentences, life without parole, and non-U.S. citizenship exclude inmates from this pathway. Inmates with offenses listed in Article 42A.054 must be terminally ill or need long-term care. Those with Chapter 62 reportable convictions or adjudications must have a persistent vegetative state or organic brain syndrome causing significant to total mobility impairment.
Inmates get stronger parole program access
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice must track parole-program waitlists, placement delays, and missed chances to finish before release eligibility. It must prioritize placements, plan enough spaces, and expand access through its rehabilitation and reentry strategy. The first joint strategy with Windham School District is due December 1, 2026, with updates every five years. The law sets a goal of cutting placement timelines by 50% by September 1, 2027. That temporary goal requirement expires December 31, 2027.
Free care for injured jail employees
Texas Department of Criminal Justice employees assigned to state jail felony facilities get free care for on-duty injuries. The benefit includes medical care from institutional division doctors and hospitalization at the institutional division hospital.
Prison staff gain leave and retirement protections
More department employees who belong to the retirement system can qualify for custodial officer retirement treatment. Their normal assignments must involve regularly planned close contact with inmates or defendants without protective barriers. Qualifying transferred managed-care employees remain covered when they retain membership and have certified assignments. Covered compensatory time becomes vacation leave if unused within 24 months after the end of the workweek when earned. The board must also create a parole officer salary ladder after consulting stakeholders and reviewing pay, but no raise is guaranteed.
Tighter release rules for noncitizen inmates
Release to immigration authorities pending deportation now requires identification of a listed medical condition. A parole panel must find that deportation will occur and that the inmate poses no public-safety threat in either country. It must also find that illegal reentry is unlikely. This pathway excludes death sentences, life without parole, Chapter 62 reportable convictions or adjudications, and Article 42A.054 offenses.
Inmate tuition help requires interest-free repayment
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice must establish tuition and fee payments for eligible inmates taking college courses during confinement. Payments use money appropriated for this purpose. Participants must repay the costs paid on their behalf, but the department cannot charge interest. A parole panel may make repayment a condition of parole or mandatory supervision.
Guardians gain state jail visitation rights
A legal guardian can visit a person in a state jail felony facility on the same terms as next of kin. The guardian must first give the facility director letters of guardianship. The confined person must otherwise be eligible to receive visitors.
Coordinated care for medically vulnerable offenders
Beginning September 1, 2025, state agencies must establish agreements to coordinate care and reentry services for elderly offenders. They must also cover offenders with a physical disability, terminal illness, or significant illness. The agreements involve Texas corrections, workforce, and health agencies. They must address identifying eligible people, sharing information, coordinating care, and finding services needed for reentry. Agencies must use appropriated money and seek federal funds.
Updated care planning for vulnerable juveniles
Beginning September 1, 2025, the Health and Human Services Commission joins care planning for juveniles with mental impairments. It replaces the Department of Aging and Disability Services in the juvenile justice system's care agreement. The agreement must cover identifying juveniles, reporting data, sharing information, coordinating care, and finding needed services.
Broader job help after prison sentences
People formerly sentenced to Texas Department of Criminal Justice custody are covered by coordinated job training and employment assistance. Coverage no longer uses wording limited to the institutional and state jail divisions. The department and Texas Workforce Investment Council must assign responsibilities through an agreement, with help delivered through local workforce boards. Beginning September 1, 2025, workforce agency agreements also cover information for these former inmates, employers, potential employers, and local boards.
More job training options for inmates
Public and private groups, including colleges, can offer voluntary job training beyond transfer facilities; no course placement is guaranteed. Windham School District must name education, career training, and counseling programs in its strategic plan. It must coordinate job training with an approved local workforce board to address current and emerging jobs. Prison staff must encourage volunteer and faith-based education, parenting, life-skills, arts, and reentry programs, seeking feedback from wardens and chaplains. The department must report on those volunteer programs and outreach efforts every two years.
Plan targets shorter inmate program waits
Texas corrections officials and Windham School District must jointly plan rehabilitation and reentry programs for inmates. The plan is due December 1, 2026, with updates every five years. It must set goals and timelines to reduce duplication and use technology and methods backed by evidence. It must include steps to cut parole-voted program placement times at least 50% by September 1, 2027, against August 31, 2023. That specific placement-time requirement expires December 31, 2027.
Independent offices strengthen prison accountability
A new independent auditor must review department finances, management, and programs and report to the board at least annually. A separate inspector general operates as an independent law enforcement agency under the board. Its licensed, specially trained officers investigate covered crimes and policy violations and cooperate with other law enforcement agencies. The department director must refer alleged employee assaults on inmates in operated or contracted facilities to law enforcement. Inmates and former inmates who were in custody when the alleged offense occurred may testify if the employee is charged.
Justice agencies continue with stronger training
Effective September 1, 2025, the law moves the criminal justice board and department's scheduled abolition date to September 1, 2037. They remain subject to Sunset review and must be continued under state law to operate beyond that date. Board members and parole commissioners must receive and acknowledge reviewing an annual manual covering law, budgets, audits, duties, and ethics. Previously trained members of the criminal justice board, parole board, and correctional health committee must complete added training. Starting December 1, 2025, those who have not completed it cannot vote, deliberate, or count as attending meetings.
Updated agencies coordinate special needs care
Beginning September 1, 2025, special-needs care coordination rules include the Texas Workforce Commission and Health and Human Services Commission. The agency definition no longer lists the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services or Department of Aging and Disability Services. The law requires agency agreements to identify and coordinate services for people with mental impairments, disabilities, serious illness, or advanced age. Related reporting is due December 1 in even-numbered years; the definition change creates no new cash payment.
Coordinated college programs for incarcerated students
Windham School District and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice must sign an agreement coordinating district-run college programs. Windham must also create a board to advise both agencies on these programs. Members must include state agencies, colleges, family and education advocacy groups, and current or former student participants. These requirements do not themselves change student eligibility or provide student funding.
Complaint updates expand but writing requirement ends
The board must periodically update complaint parties until a complaint is resolved. It can withhold updates that would jeopardize an ongoing investigation. The department must still explain complaint investigation and resolution procedures to employees and people who file complaints. It no longer has to provide that explanation as a written copy.
Medical release reviews add privacy limits
Parole panel members must complete medical-release training before voting, with refresher training every two years. The training must be available by December 1, 2025. When eligibility depends on a medical condition, at least one health care practitioner must review it before the final decision. Each reviewing practitioner must provide a plain-language report explaining how the condition and treatment affect the inmate's abilities. The board may withhold the practitioner's identity from public records, but not the practitioner's area of specialization.
New custody options before parole release
The parole division can take custody of eligible inmates up to one year before their presumptive parole or mandatory-supervision release date. It can transfer or supervise them in designated or contracted facilities. The division must manage transfer records and facility-violation reports and can return pre-parolees to institutional custody. This is not a right to early release. The department must also train county employees every year on documents needed for county-to-state custody transfers.
New workload rules for parole supervision
The board must replace fixed parole officer caseload numbers with guidelines, using workload studies before changes and periodic reviews afterward. The parole division can create qualification waivers only when its director cannot appoint qualified people. A supervision review covering caseloads, staffing vacancies, and pilot results is due December 1, 2026. Related pilots cannot expand statewide before that report; this temporary review section expires September 1, 2027. The state must also study release outcomes, sanctions, and consistency across three-member revocation panels, using findings in training.
Prison capacity increases require service checks
The board sets prison-unit capacity limits by rule instead of fixed numbers in state law. Proposed increases need written findings that housing, staffing, health care, safety, programs, visitation, and other required services can support them. Recommendations are due within 90 days after review begins and must include startup and five-year operating cost estimates. The board cannot approve a capacity above the recommendation. A 10-year facilities plan considering regional needs and community benefits is due December 1, 2026, and every four years afterward.
Prison crowding triggers reports and limits
The prison population is capped at 100% of combined unit capacities unless the board authorizes an increase. An exception requires written findings protecting necessary transfers, required approvals, and regular county allocation of added admissions. At 99% capacity, the director must notify the board and report weekly until the population falls below 99%. At 100%, or an approved higher threshold, attorney general certification can lead to an emergency response involving parole authorities. These rules create no inmate right to release or to a population below 95%; officials can consider county transfer waits of at least 45 days after paperwork and processing are complete.
Prison programs face stronger evidence rules
Only evidence-based or evidence-informed programs can appear on required treatment-plan and parole-program lists. State agencies must set rules for reviewing programs and removing those that do not qualify. The rehabilitation and reentry division runs programs chosen by the board, while a separate function evaluates their results. Treatment plans must list state-funded and intensive volunteer programs in plain language, including enrollment and completion dates. The records must distinguish evidence-based programs from electives and programs without that evidence.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Keith Bell
House
César Blanco
Democratic • Senate
Terry Canales
House
Sam Harless
House
Lacey Hull
House
Stan Kitzman
House
Mayes Middleton
Republican • Senate
Tan Parker
Republican • Senate
Angela Paxton
Republican • Senate
Kevin Sparks
Republican • Senate
Cosponsors
Pete Flores
Republican • Senate
Jeff Leach
House
Joe Moody
House
Matt Shaheen
House
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 5/28/2025
Record vote
Yes: 0 • No: 0
House vote • 5/24/2025
Record vote
Yes: 127 • No: 0
Senate vote • 4/22/2025
Record vote
Yes: 0 • No: 0
Senate vote • 4/22/2025
Record vote
Yes: 0 • No: 0
House vote • Unknown
Committee vote: Corrections
Yes: 6 • No: 0
Senate vote • Unknown
Committee vote: Criminal Justice
Yes: 6 • No: 0
Actions Timeline
Effective on 9/1/25
6/20/2025HouseSigned by the Governor
6/20/2025HouseSent to the Governor
6/1/2025HouseSigned in the House
6/1/2025HouseSigned in the Senate
5/30/2025SenateSenate concurs in House amendment(s)-reported
5/29/2025HouseReported enrolled
5/28/2025SenateRecord vote
5/28/2025SenateSenate concurs in House amendment(s)
5/28/2025SenateRead
5/28/2025SenateHouse amendment(s) laid before the Senate
5/28/2025SenateHouse passage as amended reported
5/25/2025SenateStatement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
5/24/2025HouseRecord vote (RV#3442)
5/24/2025HousePassed
5/24/2025HouseRead 3rd time
5/24/2025HousePassed to 3rd reading
5/23/2025HouseRead 2nd time
5/23/2025HousePlaced on Major State Calendar
5/23/2025HouseConsidered in Calendars
5/20/2025HouseCommittee report sent to Calendars
5/10/2025HouseCommittee report distributed
5/10/2025HouseComte report filed with Committee Coordinator
5/10/2025HouseReported favorably as substituted
4/30/2025HouseCommittee substitute considered in committee
4/30/2025House
Bill Text
Engrossed
Enrolled
House Committee Report
Introduced
Senate Committee Report
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