SB2177

The governor’s Criminal Justice Division must establish and administer the program and set application eligibility, procedures, grant-amount guidelines and evaluation procedures. The law covers agencies employing at least one officer in the sheriff/deputy/reserve-deputy category or municipal marshal/police/reserve-police category in Code of Criminal Procedure 2A.001(1) or (3), not every agency that employs a peace officer. Grants are applied for, not automatically owed to every eligible agency. Final law, subsections (b)–(d); Officer categories.

The covered sexual crimes are indecency with a child, sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault. Covered violent crimes are murder, capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon under Penal Code 22.02(a)(2), and aggravated robbery. Funds may pay to hire, train and retain investigative, forensic and crime-analysis personnel; acquire, upgrade or replace evidence-collection, evidence-processing or forensic equipment and technology; and upgrade records systems for the reporting requirements. Final law, subsections (a), (e).

“Clearance rate” is the number of reported offenses cleared by arrest or exception divided by the number reported. Arrest clearance ordinarily requires an arrested and charged suspect turned over for prosecution; the law also counts a citation requiring someone under 18 to appear before juvenile court or another juvenile authority, even without arrest. Exception clearance requires an identified and located suspect, sufficient evidence for arrest, and circumstances beyond law enforcement’s control that hinder arrest, charging and prosecution. Neither measure requires a conviction. Final law, subsection (a)(1)–(3).

Each grant recipient must report annually on clearance rates, the shares attributable to arrest versus exception, average time from offense to clearance, and the share of the grant spent on each authorized use. Crime results must be reported for the violent and sexual categories and each listed offense. The division must periodically evaluate successful practices and include program results in its biennial legislative report; it may contract for evaluation. A governmental entity cannot reduce an agency’s funding because it received this grant. Final law, subsections (f)–(i); Existing biennial reporting framework.

Changes during passage: All five posted versions retain the same operative provisions; both committees reported without amendments and the amendment index lists none. The final votes satisfied the immediate-effect clause. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate-passed; House committee; Final law; 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 program can expand investigative and forensic capacity while making grant spending and case outcomes easier to compare. Recipients also take on reporting work. The law does not guarantee a grant amount, a solved case or a conviction, and an exception clearance should not be presented as an arrest. The division may use any revenue available for the program, but this act itself does not appropriate a fixed sum. Final law.

The April 28 fiscal note says the grant cost cannot be determined: it depends on applications and appropriations. It assumes administrative costs can be absorbed within existing resources and anticipates no significant local-government fiscal implication. The note calls the division’s report annual; the actual bill and incorporated statute require a biennial report, distinct from recipients’ annual reporting. Fiscal note; Final law, subsections (f), (h), (j).