BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3158

By: Leach

Corrections

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

According to Adam Looney, former Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, roughly half of former prisoners in the United States have no reported earnings in the first year after release. According to a Science.org article, approximately one in three adults have a criminal record and some face government-imposed restrictions on their ability to work. It has been suggested that, if an individual coming out of the justice system has stability, a job, housing, food, the ability to meet their basic needs, the odds of them re-offending and the rates of recidivism decrease. H.B. 3158 seeks to allow a licensing authority to accept applications from inmates in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice following a felony conviction or revocation of felony community service, parole, or mandatory supervision.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 3158 amends the Occupations Code to establish that the revocation of an occupational license on the license holder's imprisonment following a felony conviction, felony community supervision revocation, revocation of parole, or revocation of mandatory supervision does not prohibit a licensing authority from accepting a license application from an inmate imprisoned in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.