Criminal Justice stakeholders, including the Council of Judges, County Court Administration, District Clerk's Office, County Clerk's Office, Sheriff's Office, Office of  Criminal Justice Coordination, Executive Director for Justice Support and Community Service, District Attorney's Office, County Attorney's Office, and Public Defender's Office have been working to examine El Paso County's pretrial processes, including methods of setting bond, in terms of best practice models and the ongoing litigation in Harris, Dallas, and Galveston Counties, as well as across the nation.  One of the identified options to enhance El Paso's system is the implementation of a hearing to review the bonds of each individual, who has not been released on bond, forty-eight (48) hours after the person was arrested and appeared before Jail Magistrate.  These 48 hour hearings will be held seven (7) days a week, Sunday through Saturday mornings, and the accused will be represented by the Public Defender's Office.  In addition the Bond 48 grant request creates a Indigent Defense/Magistration Coordinator to facilitate the 48 hour bond hearings and enhance El Paso County's compliance with, and review of Indigent Defense appointment procedures.  The Texas Indigent Defense Commission (TIDC) annual discretionary grant program offers an opportunity for the County to phase in part of the cost of the bond review hearing representation over a five year period, through their stair-step funding model.  Under the model, Counties' responsibilities increase annually from an initial 20% cash match, until the County funds the full program in year five and beyond.

The Texas Indigent Defense Commission (TIDC) Competitive Discretionary Grant Program was developed to assist Counties in developing and implementing enhancements to local indigent defense programs, especially those which will serve as models for other counties.  This item is requesting a budgetary amendment to reinstate the equipment budget line item so we can obtain a laptop computer to assist the program attorney in performing her work more efficiently. Because TIDC approved a delayed start for the grant program until April 2020, the first year of program operation completed in March 2021, and TIDC has indicated their support for this budget amendment, including recommending that request the cash match for this item, as program equipment, be set at 20% of the request, or $500.00, with TIDC funding the other 80%, or $2,000.00.  Budget and Fiscal Policy has indicated that funds are available in the General Administrative Grant Match Account.

The Grant Amended Grant Award review and approved by the County Attorney's Office and the amendment request was reviewed and approved by Budget and Fiscal Policy's grant team.

The amendment increases the grant budget by $2,500, and requires a grant match in the amount of $500.

Funding is available in GF-GADM-XFER OUT-GRANT MATCH. 

Commissioner's Court authorized submission of the Statement to Intent Grant Application on March 11, 2019, under contract number 2019-0149, the formal grant application on May 6, 2019, under contract number 2019-0317, and acceptance of the grant award on August 26, 2019, under contract 2019-0528.

The FY20 grant amendment and FY21 grant renewal request was tracked under contract number 2020-0371, and Commissioner's Court accepted the FY20 grant amendment and the FY21 grant award on May 11, 2020, under contract numbers 2020-0765 and 2020-0371 respectively.  The Court approved the request for this grant amendment on April 26, 2021 under contract 2021-0164.