Addendum to good bills passed in 84th TX Legislature

Reacting to Grits' Greatest Hits compilation on criminal-justice reform from the 84th Texas Legislature, state Rep. James White, vice chair of the Corrections Committee, emailed yesterday to suggest I'd missed a few with which he was involved, particularly on the juvenile front:

• SB 183: Penalizing civil rights violations and improper sexual conduct with persons in custody.
• SB 409: Limiting dissemination of fingerprints from the juvenile system.
• SB 1024: Clarifying the authority of the Windham School District to issue high school diplomas.
• HB 431: Creating an advisory committee "to examine and recommend revisions to any state laws pertaining to juvenile records."
• HB 1930: Requires local probation departments to have a written strategic plan.

He also said HB 2398, which I'd categorized as merely decriminalizing truancy, "could be described as an omnibus bill" including all the bills here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

So there you go. Good clarification on the "omnibus" [read: Christmas tree] bill. And while none of the other bills would have displaced those on my own list based on level of import, it's definitely true that more good stuff (and more bad) happened this spring than this blog has portrayed. Thanks, Rep. White, for the update.