Justice and Safety: 2023 TX Lege Agenda
Texas 2036 is hard at work drilling down into the policy issues that matter most to Texans. Here’s a look at our government performance priorities on justice and safety for the upcoming 88th Legislative Session.
Texas 2036 policy focus:
This session, our government performance policy efforts will be divided into two primary themes:
- Broadly addressing the long-term fiscal, workforce and technological needs of our state government.
- Leveraging data and IT to target improvement in policing, the judiciary and child welfare services.
What we’re focused on for justice and safety:
- Justice data and accountability
Justice data and accountability:
Texas Commission on Law Enforcement modernization: Data and IT investments can improve the state’s regulatory framework for officers and agencies.
Since 2012, there’ve been 1,400 re-hirings of dishonorably discharged peace officers in Texas. This number represents a small percentage of all peace officers hired.
What it means: Research shows that these officers might be prone to the kind of misconduct that harms trust and confidence in law enforcement.
State court backlog: Support for the judicial workforce and upgrade to the judiciary’s legacy IT and data infrastructure can reduce the court backlog. Since March 2020, 154,000 pending cases have been added to state district courts.
Texas Voter Poll take: 83% of Texas voters said making it harder to rehire law enforcement officers who were previously fired for poor conduct would increase their confidence in law enforcement.
More coverage:
- TX 2036 study shows gap in law enforcement data
- Improving justice data to improve justice for all
- Texas’ Justice System: What you need to know