Collin County tracks multiple 89th Legislature bills, flags potential unfunded mandates

Russell Shofner, Deputy County Administrator for Collin County, gave Commissioners Court an overview of selected bills from the 89th Texas Legislature that county staff are monitoring, and warned some could create unfunded obligations for the county.

Shofner told the court, "This is an unfunded mandate that would require, a county with a population of a 1000000 or more to set up a senior justice assessment center," referring to Senate Bill 160. He also flagged other measures, saying, "SB 297 ... would necessitate that the county pay for or reimburse ... confidential communication structures," and described SB 293 as increasing judicial-discipline authority while "most importantly, it would increase the judge's salary district judge's salary by $21,000 from 140 to 161." He said SB 468 would require the Texas Juvenile Justice Division to compensate counties for holding juvenile defendants longer than 30 days and described SB 664 as a comprehensive magistration bill that…