SB1563

The new veterans-interaction program becomes part of the county-jailer preparatory training program. The existing requirement for at least eight hours of mental-health training remains. Those eight hours are not a newly specified length for the veterans course: SB1563 gives no separate hour count, detailed curriculum or recurring retraining interval for that course. Final law; Prior jailer-training law.

The act applies to county jailers licensed before, on or after September 1, 2025. It separately gives people holding a county-jailer license on that date until August 31, 2027 to complete the new program. The amended appointment provision retains its temporary-appointment language and its existing exception for certain Texas Department of Criminal Justice-trained corrections officers appointed as part-time county jailers; the bill does not rewrite those appointment provisions wholesale. That retained appointment exception should not be read as deleting the act’s separate express requirement for existing license holders. Final law; Prior jailer-training law.

All five indexed versions—introduced, Senate committee, Senate-passed, House committee and final—have the same operative provisions. No amendments are indexed, and there is no abandoned alternative training schedule to report as final law. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate-passed; House committee; Version index; Amendment index.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

The requirement could help jail staff respond more knowledgeably to veterans, while agencies, training schools and jailers must develop, provide or complete the instruction. It does not create a new veterans benefit, treatment entitlement or diversion from prosecution, and the statute alone does not prove improved outcomes or that a particular jailer has completed the course. Final law.

The March 23 introduced-version and April 24 Senate-passed fiscal notes anticipate no significant state or local-government fiscal impact and assume state costs can be absorbed with existing resources. They do not quantify an individual county’s scheduling or staff-coverage costs. The act makes no appropriation. Original fiscal note; Senate-passed fiscal note; Final law.