Since 2005, $55 million in state probation funding has been incentive-based. Departments are eligible if they adopt progressive sanctions and pledge to reduce their technical revocations. Progressive sanctions involve utilizing graduated measures such as increased reporting, community service, curfews, electronic monitoring, mandatory treatment, and shock-nights in jail prior to revoking a probationer to prison for technical violations.
Austin’s Simple Fix for Soaring Housing Costs
After years of watching home prices skyrocket out of reach for first responders, nurses, and young families, in December 2023, Austin city council voted to rewrite its zoning code. The first phase of its HOME Initiative—known as HOME-1—effectively allowed up to three homes on most lots that previously could host only one. A year later,...