LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                              Austin, Texas
                                     
                    FISCAL NOTE, 76th Regular Session
  
                              March 16, 1999
  
  
          TO:  Honorable Juan Hinojosa, Chair, House Committee on
               Criminal Jurisprudence
  
        FROM:  John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
  
       IN RE:  HB1101  by Smith (Relating to certain offenses committed
               by a person with an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more
               and to the conditions of community supervision imposed
               on conviction of certain intoxication offenses.), As
               Introduced
  
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*  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.                                                             *
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Local Government Impact
  
FISCAL ANALYSIS

The bill would increase the periods of confinement in county jail for
those convicted of driving with an alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more
from the current three days to 90 days minimum for first time offenders
(misdemeanants) or 30 days if the defendant completes a rehabilitation
course approved by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. The
bill would make it a state jail felony for certain repeat offenders with
alcohol concentrations exceeding the 0.15 limit.

The creation of a state jail felony for repeat offenders with alcohol
concentrations above 0.15 is not expected to have a significant fiscal
impact on the state.

Increasing the mandatory confinement period for misdemeanants by 27 to 87
days could increase costs to counties. The cost to a particular county
would depend on the number of persons convicted of driving while
intoxicated (DWI) with alcohol concentrations greater than 0.15 and a
county's daily average cost per inmate.

METHODOLOGY

*Estimates for the number of persons convicted of DWI with an alcohol
concentration of 0.15 or higher range from 50 percent in Denton County to
80 percent in Galveston County.

*The average cost to house an inmate in a county jail is $35, according
to the Commission on Jail Standards.

*For the purposes of this estimate, it is assumed that all defendants
would complete a rehabilitation course and thus serve only an additional
27 days of confinement in county jail.

*Since inmates are often allowed to earn "good time", subsequently
reducing the amount of time an inmate serves, this estimate assumes only
one third, or nine, of the additional days will actually be served.

*There were a total of 66,944 misdemeanor DWI or driving under the
influence of drugs convictions statewide in fiscal year 1998, according
to the Office of Court Administration's 1998 Annual Report of the Texas
Judicial System. Assuming 90 percent of such convictions were for DWI
rather than DUI, it is estimated that there were approximately 60,250 DWI
convictions in fiscal year 1998.

Assuming 50 percent, or 30,125 persons would be confined an additional
nine days in county jails, the bill could increase costs to counties
statewide by as much as $9.5 million annually.
  
  
Source Agencies:   
LBB Staff:         JK, MD, TL