HBA-AMW C.S.H.B. 1028 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1028 By: Wilson Criminal Jurisprudence 4/29/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, the penalties for possession of marihuana range from 180-day confinement for possession of two ounces or less of marihuana to imprisonment in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life for possession of more than 2,000 pounds of marihuana. In addition, current law does not require a court that grants community supervision to a defendant convicted three or more times within a two-year period of possession of marihuana to require the defendant to attend an education, treatment, or rehabilitation program. C.S.H.B. 1028 decreases the penalty for the possession of less than two ounces of marihuana and establishes community supervision requirements for certain repeat offenders of possession of marihuana. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1028 amends the Health and Safety Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure to decrease from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class C misdemeanor the penalty for possession of two ounces or less of marihuana. The bill requires a court granting community supervision to a defendant convicted three or more times within a two-year period of possession of marihuana to require as a condition of community supervision that the defendant attend an education, treatment, or rehabilitation program for drug offenders as specified or approved by the judge or the community supervision and corrections department officer supervising the defendant. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1028 modifies the original bill by restoring current law relating to the penalties for possession of more than two ounces of marihuana, the expenditure of funding knowingly derived from certain offenses, and enhanced penalties for offenses in a drug free zone. The substitute removes from the original bill the definition of "concentrated cannabis." The substitute removes requirements regarding the filing of a written motion by a defendant to be assessed the penalties in the original bill and the suspension and dismissal of a fine for a defendant placed on community supervision who completes the program for drug offenders.