LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  March 25, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable Allen Hightower, Chair            IN RE:  House Bill No. 547
          Committee on Corrections                              By: Culberson
          House
          Austin, Texas
         
         
         
         
         FROM:  John Keel, Director    
         
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on HB547 ( Relating 
to the eligibility for release on parole of certain inmates 
serving sentences for violent offenses.) this office has detemined 
the following:
         
         Biennial Net Impact to General Revenue Funds by HB547-As Introduced
         
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
         

         
 
          
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal 
basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions 
of the bill.

The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure 
by requiring certain violent offenders to serve 85 percent of 
the sentence imposed in actual calendar time before being eligible 
for release on parole.  

Under current law and policy, the 
average time served in prison by persons likely to be affected 
by the provisions of this bill is greater than five years. Therefore, 
no significant impact on the demands of adult corrections agencies 
is anticipated during the first five years following passage. 
 Under current parole policy, persons affected by the provisions 
of the bill are expected to serve approximately 85% of the their 
sentences, therefore, the impact of the bill beyond the five-year 
period is not likely to be substantial.  

Passage of the 
bill may also help qualify Texas for federal "truth-in-sentencing" 
prison grants, which require passage of an 85 percent sentencing 
law.  However, these federal grants may only be used for the 
construction or expansion of prison facilities and may not be 
used to replace existing state appropriations.  Since passage 
of the bill is not expected to necessitate a system expansion, 
the state may not be able to identify an immediate use for these 
federal funds in the adult corrections system. 

No fiscal 
implication to units of local government is anticipated.
          
   Source:            Agencies:   
                                         
                      LBB Staff:   JK ,CB ,GG