Established in 1949, the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) is the state’s juvenile corrections agency.  In Texas, TYC is charged with housing and supervising delinquent youth committed to state confinement by county courts.

TYC is subject to the Sunset Act and will be abolished September 1, 2009, unless continued by the Texas Legislature during this legislative session.  In January 2009, the Sunset Advisory Commission submitted a report to the state legislature with a controversial decision recommending that TYC be abolished and merged with the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (TJPC) into a single state agency.

In that report, the Sunset Advisory Commission stated, “[the] Sunset staff  recognizes the controversial nature of consolidating these agencies, but could not justify their separate continuation.  Texas needs to seize the opportunity to create a more integrated system of services for youthful offenders.”

Reacting to the Sunset Advisory Commission’s decision, Texas State Representative Ruth McClendon, introduced HB 3689 calling for both the abolishment of TYC and TJPC.  HB 3689 proposed that the powers and duties of those agencies would then be transferred to a newly created state agency, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.  

Some predicted that this would be the end of the troubled TYC.  However, this has turned out to not be the case.  After a lengthy work session and public hearings, the House Committee on Corrections made the following changes to HB 3689:

“The Sunset Commission found an ongoing need for the functions of these . . . agencies, but identified improvements needed to address the persistent lack of coordination between TYC and TJPC, ongoing problems within TYC, and other issues of state-level communication and oversight in the juvenile justice system.  This legislation contains provisions to address these needs, including continuing TYC and TJPC as independent agencies with separate governing boards, and creating the Juvenile Justice Policy Coordinating Council to make recommendations to TJPC and TYC regarding ways to improve the provision of services, operations of juvenile programs, and agency coordination.”

It’s important to note that in 2007, amidst allegations of sexual abuse and agency mismanagement, the State Legislature responded with radical changes for reforming TYC. When the Sunset Advisory Commission reviewed TYC earlier this year, sunset advisory staff found that TYC was still struggling to implement those reforms. Furthermore, the staff also found that even after repeated legislative attempts to improve collaboration between TYC and TJPC, there was still a lack of communication and cooperation between the two agencies.  This is precisely why the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended abolishing TYC.

Whether the legislature’s newly proposed Juvenile Justice Policy Coordinating Council in HB 3689 will be able to truly address these issues remains to be seen.  

If allowed to continue as an independent state agency, TYC will be up for review again in 2011 by the Sunset Advisory Commission.  One can hope that at that time if improvements have not been seen, that the legislature will finally take action to create a more integrated system for youthful offenders.

HB 3689 has been reported favorably as substituted above out of the House Committee on Corrections and is currently being scheduled for a vote by the entire Texas House of Representatives.

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