LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
February 20, 2001
TO: Honorable Juan Hinojosa, Chair, House Committee on
Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB22 by Corte (Relating to the punishment and
eligibility for parole of certain defendants convicted of
sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, or indecency
with a child.), As Introduced
**************************************************************************
* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB22, As Introduced: positive impact of $0 through the biennium *
* ending August 31, 2003. *
* *
* The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal *
* basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of *
* the bill. *
**************************************************************************
General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:
****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) *
* Impact to General Revenue Related *
* Funds *
* 2002 $0 *
* 2003 0 *
* 2004 299,300 *
* 2005 4,654,496 *
* 2006 7,253,452 *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
*****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from *
* General Revenue Fund *
* 0001 *
* 2002 $0 *
* 2003 0 *
* 2004 299,300 *
* 2005 4,654,496 *
* 2006 7,253,452 *
*****************************************************
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Penal Code by making the offenses of indecency
with a child by contact, sexual assault of a child, and aggravated sexual
assault of a child, punishable solely by life imprisonment without the
possibility of release on parole.
The change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed
on or after September 1, 2001.
After 35 years of cumulative impact, the additional demand for prison
beds from this bill would peak at 50,000, assuming that the number of
offenders sentenced for these offenses would not change in the future.
At $40 per day, the annual cost of either operating facilities or
contracting with other entities for 50,000 inmates is approximately $706
million.
Methodology
In fiscal year 2000, 2,107 offenders were admitted to prison with
convictions for the offenses targeted by this bill. These offenders are
currently eligible for parole after earning actual time credit for
one-half of their sentences. Under the provisions of the bill, these
offenders will be sentenced to prison for life without parole which is
assumed to be equivalent to serving 35 years. This is because the
average age of offenders admitted to prison is 29 years with an average
life span of 64 years.
In order to estimate the future impact of the proposal, the changes
proposed for admission and release policy are applied in a simulation
model, to (1) prison admissions that reflect the distribution of
offenses, sentence lengths, and time served, and (2) the decrease in the
number of people on parole supervision, due to the decreased number of
inmates released during the time period of the fiscal note who would
require parole supervision. Included in the estimated costs are
projected parole operating savings.
Costs of incarceration by the Department of Criminal Justice are
estimated on the basis of $40 per inmate per day for prison facilities,
reflecting approximate costs of either operating facilities or
contracting with other entities. No costs are included for prison
construction. Options available to address the increased demand for
prison capacity that would result from implementation of this bill
include construction of new prisons and contracting with counties or
private entities.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is
anticipated.
Source Agencies:
LBB Staff: JK, JC, GG