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 ************************************************************************** * 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. * ************************************************************************** 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