Honorable Abel Herrero, Chair, House Committee on Corrections
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3549 by AnchÃa (Relating to creating the criminal offense of tampering with an electronic monitoring device and to certain consequences on conviction of that offense.), As Introduced
Creating a criminal offense may result in additional demands upon state correctional resources due to an increase in the number of individuals sentenced to a term of confinement. The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined due to a lack of statewide data needed to estimate the remaining sentence length of individuals who attempt or succeed in removing or disabling a required tracking device. Depending on the number of individuals that may be removed from parole or mandatory supervision and are incarcerated as a result of committing an offense under the bill's provisions, the fiscal impact could be significant.
The bill would create a state jail felony for knowingly removing or disabling or attempting to remove or disable a tracking device that the person is required to wear to enable electronic monitoring of the person's location required as a condition of release on parole or to mandatory supervision. The bill would require parole or mandatory supervision of a person convicted of such an offense to be automatically revoked and require a judge to order the sentence for the offense to commence immediately on completion of the sentence for the offense for which the defendant was released on parole or to mandatory supervision.
In fiscal year 2022, the total number of adults served through the Texas Department of Criminal Justice parole division's electronic monitoring program and super-intensive supervision program were 9,799 and 4,257, respectively. In fiscal year 2022, TDCJ reported that a total of 1,127 parole warrants were executed and confirmed a monitor strap for an individual on parole supervision was cut or the warrant remains active following an alert for a cut strap that could not be immediately resolved.
The revocation of parole or mandatory supervision may require the person to serve the remaining portion of the sentence for which the person was released. Statewide data does not exist to estimate the remaining sentence length of individuals who attempt or succeed in removing or disabling a required electronic monitoring device.
Based on the February 2023 Criminal and Juvenile Uniform Cost Report, the fiscal year 2022 uniform cost per day was $21.71 for an adult on parole supervision and in the electronic monitoring program and was $50.32 for an adult on parole supervision and in the super-intensive supervision program. The uniform cost per day for an incarcerated adult in a systemwide facility was $77.49. The difference between the length of stay on a parole supervision program and incarceration as a result of revocation for an offense under the bill's provisions cannot be determined.
It is assumed that any impact on state juvenile correctional populations or on the demand for state juvenile correctional resources would not be significant.
Local Government Impact
While the fiscal impact cannot be determined, creating a criminal offense may result in additional demands upon local correctional resources due to an increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 696 Department of Criminal Justice, 697 Board of Pardons and Paroles