• Texas should give legal protection to employers willing to give former offenders a second chance.  The State should prevent employers from being liable for lawsuits prompted by the criminal or tortuous acts of a non-3g* ex-offender employee, with the exception of gross negligence and liability regulated under Labor Code Title 5, Workers’ Compensation.  This initiative would encourage additional employers to give the formerly incarcerated an opportunity to re-integrate into the workforce.

• Texas should remove barriers within state statutes that prevent the formerly incarcerated from obtaining licensing for jobs that are not directly related to the crime committed.  When people come out of prison, they must find jobs and housing or risk turning to illegal activity to survive.  However, Texas has 168 state laws that forbid felons from obtaining jobs – and because Texas law designates 1,941 individual offenses as felonies, Texas has a huge felon population.  In fact, approximately 1 in 11 Texas adults has a felony conviction on his or her record.  Current Texas licensing requirements apply to a significant number of occupations, including air conditioning and refrigeration contractors, electricians, water well drillers, manicurists, and many others.  Former felons cannot currently qualify for many of these licensed positions. 

• Texas should offer a Certificate of Rehabilitation to help lift the customary bar to employment for a felon who obtains one.

Note: Certificates of Rehabilitation are also referred to as Certificates of Relief from Disabilities or Certificates of Good Conduct.  These are state-authorized documents of rehabilitation that allow previously incarcerated people to demonstrate that they have paid their debt to society and have earned the right to have statutory bars lifted and public benefits reinstated.  

Through this certification process, the State can promote public safety and civic engagement, as well as the employment of people who have completed their sentences.  Arizona, California, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, and Illinois have already enacted legislation to provide individuals with a way to remove barriers to employment or other post-release rights.

*3g offenses include aggravated kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault; indecency with a child; murder; sexual assault of a child or adult; and any felony with a deadly weapon.