Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0613 Page: 1 of 9
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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
April 7, 2008
Mr. Kenneth Magidson Opinion No. GA-0613
Harris County District Attorney
1201 Franklin Street, Suite 600 Re: Authority of the Harris County Commissioners
Houston, Texas 77002 Court to lease or purchase a juvenile detention
center in Colorado County and to use funds
forfeited to the district attorney to pay for the
transaction (RQ-0631-GA)
Dear Mr. Magidson:
Your predecessor in office asked whether the Harris County Commissioner's Court may lease
or purchase ajuvenile detention facility located in Colorado County, Texas.1 He also asked whether
the Harris County District Attorney's asset forfeiture funds may be used to purchase or lease such
a facility. Request Letter, supra note 1, at 1.
Proceedings against a child under the Juvenile Justice Code may result in placing the child
on probation outside of his home in "a suitable public or private residential treatment facility
licensed by a state governmental entity or exempted from licensure by state law," excluding a facility
operated by the Texas Youth Commission. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. tit. 3 (Vernon 2002 & Supp.
2007) (Juvenile Justice Code); id. 54.04(c), (d)(1)(B)(ii) (Vernon Supp. 2007) (disposition and
placement on probation outside the home).2 The brief that accompanied the opinion request
indicates that there is a shortage of residential treatment facilities in Harris County for all juvenile
offenders who are subject to such placement3 and proposed that asset forfeiture funds held by the
'Letter from Charles A. Rosenthal, Jr., former Harris County District Attorney, to Honorable Greg Abbott,
Attorney General of Texas, at 1 (Sept. 21, 2007) (on file with the Opinion Committee, also available at
http://www.oag.state.tx.us) [hereinafter Request Letter].
2See also Brief from Charles A. Rosenthal, Jr., former Harris County District Attorney, to Honorable Greg
Abbott, Attorney General of Texas, at 1 (Sept. 21, 2007) (on file with the Opinion Committee) (attachment to Request
Letter, supra note 1) [hereinafter Brief].
3The brief notes that the repeal of Family Code subsections 54.04(s) and (t) took away the district court's
authority to send recidivist misdemeanor offenders to the Texas Youth Commission. See id. at 2; see also Act of May
24, 2001, 77th Leg., R.S., ch. 1297, 23, 2001 Tex. Gen. Laws 3142, 3152-53 (formerly codified as Family Code
section 54.04(s) and (t), repealed by Act of May 25, 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., ch. 263, 64, 2007 Tex. Gen. Laws 421, 445
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0613, text, April 7, 2008; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275509/m1/1/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.