LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                   Austin, Texas
         
                                   FISCAL NOTE
                               75th Regular Session
         
                                  January 23, 1997
         
         
      TO: Honorable John Whitmire, Chair            IN RE:  Senate Bill No. 250
          Committee on Criminal Justice                              By: Whitmire/et al.
          Senate
          Austin, Texas
         
         
         
         
         FROM:  John Keel, Director    
         
         In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on SB250 ( Relating to the repeal 
         of release to mandatory supervision and to parole procedures applicable to 
         certain inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.) this office has 
         detemined the following:
         
             Biennial Net Inpact to General Revenue Funds by SB250-1 As Introduced
         
             Implementing the provisions of the bill would result in a net negative impact of
         $(126,268,441) to General Revenue Related Funds through the biennium ending August 31,
         1999.
         
         The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an 
         appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.

         Because this bill does not make an appropriation, the net certification impact would 
         be dependent upon subsequent legislative apprpriations.

         
 
Fiscal Analysis
 
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure by requiring prisoners eligible for release
to mandatory supervision to be subject to review by a parole panel. Application of this provision
will apply to all inmates incarcerated on or after September 1, 1997.  Application of parole
review occurs regardless of whether the offense is committed before, on, or after September 1,
1997.  Inmates released from imprisonment before September 1, 1997, are covered by the law in
effect immediately before September 1, 1997.  
 
Methodolgy
 
In order to estimate the future impact of the proposal, the changes proposed for release policy are
applied in a simulation of prison admissions and on-hand prison population, reflecting the
current distribution of offenses, sentence lengths, and time served.  The decrease in the number
of people on parole supervision resulting from the corresponding decrease in prison releases is
similarly estimated.
The probable fiscal implications of implementing the provisions of the bill during each of the
first  five years following passage is estimated as follows:
 
Five Year Impact:
 
Fiscal Year Probable           Probable           
            Savings/(Cost)     Savings/(Cost)                                                             
            from General       from General                                                               
            Revenue Fund       Revenue Fund                                                               
            0001               0001                                                                        
       1998     ($47,519,473)        $2,949,752                                                      
       1998      (86,200,191)         4,501,471                                                      
       2000      (96,792,941)         4,039,176                                                      
       2001     (100,380,102)         3,262,502                                                      
       2002      (98,492,819)         2,475,699                                                      
 
         Net Impact on General Revenue Related Funds:
 
The probable fiscal implication to General Revenue related funds during each of the first five
years is estimated as follows:
 
              Fiscal Year      Probable Net Postive/(Negative)
                               General Revenue Related Funds
                                             Funds
               1998        ($44,569,721)
               1999         (81,698,720)
               2000         (92,753,765)
               2001         (97,117,600)
               2002         (96,017,120)
 
Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as the provisions of the bill are in
effect.
          
             No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
          
   Source:            Agencies: