Commissioners Court preserves historic Hays County buildings universitystar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from universitystar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Letters to the Editor
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Editor,
Hays County’s criminal legal system has long had problems: from our habitually overcrowded jail that’s led to an outsourcing problem to our chronically slow court system. In 2017, Hays County had the 7th slowest district court system in Texas. A July 1, 2021, Texas Commission on Jail Standards report listed Hays third highest in detainee outsourcing. Hays County residents paid $54,000 between June 13-19 alone to send 126 detainees to other counties so that our full jail could stay in compliance with state jail standards. A full jail, slow courts, and extremist “bail reform” measures making their way through Special Session right now promise to only worsen this dire problem.
Monday, July 12, 2021
Hays County will need to take further action on its multi-year improvement grant application it submitted to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to fund its public defender services effort.
The Hays County Commissioners Court will discuss taking action on the application submitted to TIDC during Tuesday’s meeting after funding was not awarded to the county.
In April, the commissioners court unanimously voted in favor of pursuing funding for a three pronged criminal justice reform approach: a Pretrial Services Department, Public Defender Office and a Managed Assigned Counsel program.
The pretrial services department should enhance current systems aimed at fairness and due process, cost effectiveness, while also providing opportunities for review of cases prior to initial appearance and early case resolution opportunities, if deemed appropriate.
The Hays County Commissioners Court recently debated on how to spread over $44.7 million of funding expected to be allocated to the county through the American Rescue Plan.[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]
Commissioners Court discusses allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funding universitystar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from universitystar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.