0426041.1 COMMISSIONERS' COURT AGENDA REQUEST PLEASE FURNISH ONE ORIGINAL AND NINE COPIES OF THIS REQUEST AND DOCUMENTS TO BE REVIEWED BY THE COURT. MADE BY: William H. Williams OFFICE: Commissioner, Pct. 2 MEETING DATE: April 26, 2004 TIME PREFERRED: 9:15 a.m. SUBJECT: (Please be specific) Consider, and discuss adverse financial implications to Kerr County Justice of the Peace Courts resulting from TDPS decision to terminate its Citation Disposition Receipt Program; confirm or rescind Commissioners Court action authorizing participation in TDPS Failure to Appear Program. EXECUTIVE SESSION REQUESTED NAME OF PERSON(S) ADDRESSING THE COURT: Commissioner Williams, Judge Wright. ESTIMATED LENGTH OF PRESENTATION: 15 Minutes IF PERSONNEL MATTER NAME OF EMPLOYEE: Time for submitting this request for Court to assure that the matter is posted in accordance with Title 5, Chapter 551 and 552, Government Code, is as follows: Meeting scheduled for Mondays: 5:00 P.M. previous Tuesday THIS REQUEST RECEIVED BY: THIS REQUEST RECEIVED ON: @ All Agenda Requests will be screened by the County Judge's Office to determine if adequate information has been prepared for the Court's formal consideration and action at time of Court meetings. Your cooperation is appreciated and contributes toward your request being addressed at the earliest opportunity. See Agenda Request Rule adopted by Commissioners Court. 04/2'x; 20~~4 1.1:50 f 925414 JP 2 DAWN W~'IGHT PAGE C~1 '~C OFFICE OF THE JUSTICE t7F THE PEACE Precinct Na. 2 • Kerr County 400 Clearwater Paiseo Kerrville, Texas 76028 TELEPHONE gaa-7sz-saga April 24. 2QQ4 Memo ta: Bill Williame Kerr Co. Commissioner, Pct. 2 From: Dawn Wright Kerr Co. J. P. Pct. 2 Bill: FAX 834-792-6414 The following are figures from my reports reflecting collections of violate Promitse to Appear and Failure to Appear ~.n our court for the past six months. This does not reflect all collections which would be loft with omnibase. Also listed are warrant fees which we would na longer collect. Capias $50.00 fees would also be lost, but I don't believe ornnibase would collect those either. ~'TA & ~ vPTA WF p[:tober $2,400.00 $200.00 November 2,700.00 250.00 t~ecember 2.700.00 250.00 Jar:uary 2, 400.04 200.40 February 3.900.00 350.00 March 2,400.00 200.00 Attached also are memos from our JPCA personnel who are involved in the re-instatment df the warrant data bank. 1~~ Dawn i-'=~ _c~i2~.~~'-~ :.1: ~~~ 75~hc•:_4 JF I =i{~,~,N !n~~'Iu~T F'A(~E Page 4 of 6 Cc: {canniejp4f~hotmail.com>; ~delynnt~co.winkler.tx.us~; a~Hilger~TarrantCounty.evm>; ; "Roper Rountree" ~rr15~tjctc.org~; {pb10(~tjctc.org~ Sent: Tcesday, Aprll 06, 2004 2:51 PM Subjoat: warrant Data sank Dear Colleagues, In efforts tv let you know how JPCA is reactiztg to the issue of the warrant data bank deactivation, the memo below from our presiding JPCA President Bruce Elfant is for you to read. The letter that has been mailed to Colonel Tommy Davis of the DPS follows President );lfants' memo and is to assure you that. JPC.~ is piecing extreme importance in this matter. I appreciate your diligence in reading and supporting sort efforts on behalf of all Justices of the Peace in the State of Texas. lrl your 5erY1Ce, Cindy Arnold-Mathews 1st Vice-President Justices of the Peace and Constables .4ssoeiation 432-524-1412 w -----Original Message----- From: Bruce Elfant [rmaalto:Bruce.Elfant@co.travis.tx.us] Sent: Tuesday, April, 06, 21144 11:09 AM To: Cindy Arrnald Subject: Re: Cindy: Please send the following to the JPs. The lettez bas already been faxed to I7PS. Bruce M1~IViO1Z.AIVD[JM TO: Texas Justices of the Peace k'R(,3M: Bruce Elfant, President, Justices of the Peace acid Cvnstalales A550Clatiarl of Texas RE: DPS Shutdown of Wazxant Databank DATE: Apri16, 2004 Last week and without any advance warming the Department of Public Safety shut dow-r- the Warrant Databank. The Justices of the Peace and Constables Association of Texas has communicated to DPS, key legislators and others of our surprise and disaf+pointtnent that DPS would take such an action without first consulting with or at least providing any 412Q!44 Page 5 04'6 advance war7rng to Texas JPs who a#ter all will be the most affected by this action. Be assured that JPCA considers the reactivation of the T)PS data warrant bank to be a top priority and are aggressively do whatever it takes to ;et this decision reversed. ]have enclosed correspondence that we sent to DPS. We expect to meet with Col, Davis in the near future and we will keep you informed about this matter. AptKl 6, 2044 Thomas A. Davis, Jr. Director, Texas Department of Public Safety P. O. Box 4QS~ Austin, 78765 Dear Col. Davis: Last week without an~v advance notice, Texas Justices of the Peace began receiving correspondence from your office informing therm that "effective irnrnediately" DPS will shut down the Warrant Databank. Many judges have told me that they first found out about the discontinuation of the Warrant Databank when D}yS troopers returned all their existing JP warrants. This action has caused a great deal of concern and confusion for Justices of the Peace throughout Texas. Unfortunately, subsequent efforts by youx office to explain the DPS position has done little to allay their concerns. Be assured that Texas JPs desire a close working relationship with the Texas Department of Public Safety. But goad relationships require effective cumumunication and consultation by all parties irrvolved. That is why it came as such a surprise that DPS would eliminate the Warrant Databank without first seeking input or providing ar~y advanced warning from those who would be the rztost inrpacte~d by this decision. In an effort to improve our working relationship, The Justice o£ the Peace and Constables Association of Texas would appreciate the opportunity far our leadership to visit with you to explain and hopefully resolve all concerns regarding your decision to eliminate the Warrant Databank. I can be reached at 512 $54-91 zJa, bruce_eltant ~co,travs.tx.us ax P. Q. Box 1748, ,Austin, TX 78757. Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, Bruce Elfant President, Justices of the Peace ar~d Constables .Association of Texas 4/20/04 ~C:~:;'~i~F?F9d _t:5~ ;~'9~541a JF' 2 ']~l~.N ~n~F~'LaFT F;:;GE 04 Page 6 of 5 B~'11C~~ The concerns Qf the judges fihvuld be priority. Let's get the ball rolling. Cindy aizo~oa MEMCaR.ANDUM TO; JPCA Members F1tOM: David M. Lobos DATE: April 8, 200 SUBJECT: DP5 Warrant Databank and Prapvsed I"egislation The abrupt elimination of the DPS Statewide V4'arrant Databank and the purging of hundreds of warrants from the system shocked us all to say the least. What angered many of us the most is the manner in which they shut the system down, and the fact that many counties had specifically hired administrative personnel paid for with County funds who were assigned to DPS to work on entering JP cases in the Warrant Databank. We should work to have these personnel reassigned to the JP Courts. Prior to the DPS announcement I had been in contact with the DPS General Counsel on legislative remedies relating to the Citation Disposition receipts and problems Troopers were having with Sheriff s refusing prisoners in their jails who only had class c traffic warrants. Although the topic of the Warrant Databank was never mentioned outright I felt DPS was reexamining the issues from four (4) years ago but this time were working with the Justices of the Peace in good faith to resolve any problems; but we all know the outcome. Since ire received notice myself and President Bruce l~Ifa~nt opened communication directly with DPS leadership tv express the Judges views in a effort to have them reactivate the Warrant Databank and provide us an opportunity to work with DPS to phase out tlae Databank and or come ttp with solutions to the problems expressed by DPS Far their reasoning for "unplut;giz~g" the Database. Conversations were conducted with the leadership of DPS, with legislators and DPS Commissioners. Ian: sad to report that the negotiations have failed. As of the date of this letter, DFS said they cannot and will not reactivate the system. At one point it vas asked that they reactivate the system and use the backup disks or data to reenter the warrants, according to Chief Elliston that cannot be done. We proposed that the Courts review the warrants returned to them to cull non-prosecutable cases and re-enter good cases in the system and give the Justices of the Peace some time to convert to other systems ar programs. DFS said that would take too many resources and take a greater effort than necessary when the eventual outcome would be the same, elimination of the Databank. Dt'S concedes that in hindsight notifying us and working togcthcr ar-d setting a deadline to eliminate the Databank would have been better, but as you know hind sight is always 20,!20. In some respects they understand our anger. I thirsk it important to be proactive _ , ?~tiz~~=•_~4 _1:5.1 t'~+~F_~1.:. iF 2 ~C;4SN I,JRIi~F-T F'~iaE Gt6 Page 2 and instead of retaliati»g or being angry we should warp to help ourselves. We do not want anyone to call into question a judge's or court's credibility because of an.t;er. Feel free to express your displeasure even write letters if you feel compelled. In fact you are encouraged to communicate with your local authorities (Sheriff, Commissioners, County Judges, State Representatives/Senators) those efI'arts will go a long way in obtaining support for our proposals in the upcoming Legislative session. Fighting with DPS at this point will not solve the problem. They have taken a posture that regardless of the pressure or the source of the pressure the system is dead. President Elfant will be having a face-to-face meeting with the DPS Directar in the near firture, possibly next week to further discuss the issue. The Legislative Committee is working on the fallowing legislative issues: • Amend Justice Court Technology Statute to make it a mandatory court cost as Uther court costs, to remove the sunset provision and to include a provision that funds maybe expended to allow for traitaing fat' court personnel on technological issues related to the operation and function ofthe Court. • Amend Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 45.1x1 with specific language to allow a Justice Court to proceed with punishment on a plea of Guilty or No contest without a prosecutor being present. • Aanend Section 27.004 of the Government Code to specify that public access to the records of the JP Courts is controlled by Rule 12. • Amend Property Code to include on a citation of Eviction the language, "Failure to appear for trial may result in a default judgment against you". • To oppose any drastic increases of the j urisdictional limits of the Small Claims and Justice CourtlEviction Courts. We have agreed on $10,000 limits. • Amend Code ofCriminal Procedure to give discretion far JF Courts to suspend the Texas license of a defendant who fails to appear or who defaults in the payment of a fine, f'urtl~.er provide that a Court is required to provide 15 days notice to the defendant of the impending suspension for failure to discharge the case. • Amend Article 102.017, Code of Criminal Procedure to provide that fur JP Courts outside of a Courthouse $1.50 of the $3.00 fee shall be placid in a fund known as the JP Court building security fund admi»istez'ed by tk-e Commissioner's Court to be used for the security prnvisicns authoritcd by the statute. Page 3 • Amend Government Code to require Attorney JP's to complete mandatory training through the Justice Court Training Center as non-attoxney JP are currently required to complete. This will eliminate the opportunity for attorxaey JP's to obtain credit through CLE credits. • Amend Article ~>,US7(h) of the Code of Criminal Procedure to remove the word "or" between ehild(parent making is clear that the child AND parent are REQUIRED to provide a change of address to the Court within '~ dav_ s or BOTH maybe charged with a class c misdemeanor. • Amend Section 1ti1.~53, (Minor possession,rca»sumption of Tobacco products) to required the collection of court costs as in other deferral cases. • Amend Chapters l4 and 15 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to REQUIRE an AfI'zdavit of Probable Cause with complaints fox warrantless arrests and when ofhoers apply for warrants, If you wish to comment vn any of the inforrziation contained in this letter or the legislative proposals or you have other ideas on legislation please send them to David Lobos a,co.midland.tx.us COMMISSIONERS' COURT AGENDA REQUEST "~ PLEASE FURNISH ONE ORIGINAL AND NINE COPIES OF THIS REQUEST AND DOCUMENTS TO BE REVIEWED BY THE COURT. MADE BY: Pat Tinley OFFICE: County Judge MEETING DATE: April 12, 2004 TIME PREFERRED: SUBJECT: (PLEASE BE SPECIFIC) Consider and discuss approval of contract to participate in Failure to Appear Program with Texas Department of Public Safety and authorize County Judge to sign same. EXECUTIVE SESSION REQUESTED: (PLEASE STATE REASON) NAME OF PERSON ADDRESSING THE COURT: E~ ~ IMATED LENGTH OF PRESENTATION: IF PERSONNEL MATTER -NAME OF EMPLOYEE: Time for submitting this request for Court to assure that the matter is posted in accordance with Title 5, Chapter 551 and 552, Government Code, is as follows: Meeting scheduled for Mondays: THIS REQUEST RECEIVED BY: THIS REQUEST RECEIVED ON: Count~udge 5:00 P.M. previous Tuesday. All Agenda Requests will be screened by the County Judge's Office to determine if adequate information has been prepazed for the Court's formal consideration and action at time of Court Meetings. Your cooperation will be appreciated and contribute towazds you request being addressed at the earliest opportunity. See Agenda Request Rules Adopted by Commissioners' Court. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY 5805 N. LAMAR BLVD • BOX 4087 • AUSTIN, TEXAS 78773-0001 "' 512!424-2000 ,t " E: p www.txdps.state.tx.us ~;; '~ fi 1~ yi DIRECTOR ;; C'dhii ~ ~ ~Un ~-(~L :E.N b: ...+ DAVID Ak;F..AIFIRON i;H~!RMf~Ny Assn DIRECTOR Nlarch 26, 2004 c:.,H,.os HL-c-scos COMFd1553UtaERS "l~o; Justice and Municipal Courts of "Texas Rc: I)PS 1~~~arrant Databank On my order, the Department recently terminated its Citation Disposition Receipt Program ~--vltich had permitted DPS "I'raopers to accept payment of fines and court ci~sts on behalt~ ot• a court in lieu of magistration from persons arrested under ~~~arrant for failing to appear to answer a finc- only charge under the Texas Transportation Code. 1 terminated the Program after concluding that "t'exas Code of Criminal Procedure art. ] 5. l 7 requires that a peace officer serving an arrest warrant place the person named in the warrant in custody and bring him before a magistrate. Because Article 27.14 does not waive this legal requircment,~a peace officer ntav not take any other action including accepting payment of fine attd court casts on behtilf•of the catu-t. In addition, I have discontinued the DPS Warrant Databank. Although DPS Troopers ~~ ill diligently attempt to serve any fine-only arrest warrant given to them by the courts, we will no longer accept fine-only traffic warrants for entry into the databank. If, after a rcasonahle ef[-ort. tive are unable to locate the person named in the ~~~arrani, it ~~~ill he returned in order that the court may use other methods to serve the warrant. "I~o assist the courts in this transition. DPS «rill provide a disk listing all fine-only traffic warrants issued by each court in the I)PS ~~'arrant [)atahaztk at fire time of termination. A request corm is included ~~ith your information packet. An alternative for handling violators who fail to appear in justice or municipal court is a program established by the Legislature and set out in Transportation Code ch. 7U6. "fhc Failure to Appear I'rogratn covers all offenses within the jurisdiction of mwticipal and justice courts. Additional information regarding the Failure to Appear Program is included with the information packet. Sincere! ~ yours, ~j Thomas A. Davis. Jr. L)irector EQUAL OPPOkTVNII Y EMpIOYER COVRTE SY ~ SERVICE PRGT ECTION TO: Texas Highway Patrol Division P. O. Box 4087 5805 N. Lamar Austin, Texas 78773 FROM: Justice or Municipal Court Address: Re: Warrant Data Bank DATE: Please provide this court with a disk listing all fine, only traffic warrants from this court, that were entered into the Department of Public Safety Warrant Data Bank System. ~ P~ > E Y 4,' A r ~ ~-~~ TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY FAILURE TO APPEAR PROGRAM As a result of nonpayment of fines associated with certain violations, poliitical subdivisions and the State of Texas have encountered a significant loss of revenue. The TDPS offers a solution to serve the political subdivisions by denying the renewal of a driver license for failure to appear or failure to pay or satisfy a judgment ordered by a court It is estimated that between 95 and 98 percent of the FTA offenders will comply with the political subdivisions that contract with the Department. The intent of the Failure to Appear Program is directed toward a system that requires the violator to appear before the originating court for a final disposition. This pamphlet identifies the sequence of events designed to bring both traffic and non-traffic violators to justice. During the 74th Legislative Session, Senate Bill 1504, Texas Transportation Code, Chapter 706 (formerly Vemon's Civil Statute, 6687d), authorized the Department to contract with political subdivisions to deny the renewal of an individual's driver license for failure to appear on certain traffic violations. In the 76th Legislative Session, House Bill 2802 amended the Texas Transportation Code, Chapter 706, to include all offenses for which the violator fails to appear, that are within the jurisdiction of the court. The main provisions of the bill are as follows: • Authorizes the Department to contract with a private vendor to implement the system. • Requires the political subdivision to compensate the private vendor for service delivered under the provisions of this bill (prohibits the use of state funds to compensate a private vendor). • Provides for an administrative fee of $30.00 for each offense. • Establishes immunity from suit and damages for the state and political subdivisions. • Authorizes the Department to adopt rules to implement the provisions of the bill. Requires the peace officer to give notice of the sanction at the time a citation is written. • Applies to offenses that occur on or after September 1, 1999. During the 77th Legislative Session, Senate Bill 1371 further amended the Texas Transportation Code to include offenses for which an individual fails to pay or satisfy the judgment of a court order. This amendment expands the scope of the program and gives the court greater flexibility. These provisions were effective September 1, 2001. During the 78`h Legislative Session, Senate Bill 782 further amended the Texas Transportation Code to include any offense that a court has jurisdiction of under Chapter 4, Code of Criminal Procedure. This provision was effective June 18, 2003. -_ 1- Chapter 706 of the Texas Transportation Code applies to all offenses that fall within the municipal "'°' or county court's jurisdiction, including both traf!