LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session
April 10, 2001
TO: Honorable Juan Hinojosa, Chair, House Committee on
Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE: HB31 by McClendon (Relating to the punishment for the
offense of burglary of a vehicle.), As Introduced
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* Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for *
* HB31, As Introduced: negative impact of $(13,980,071) 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 $(3,126,997) *
* 2003 (10,853,074) *
* 2004 (19,655,026) *
* 2005 (27,582,877) *
* 2006 (34,481,057) *
****************************************************
All Funds, Five-Year Impact:
*****************************************************
* Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from *
* General Revenue Fund *
* 0001 *
* 2002 $(3,126,997) *
* 2003 (10,853,074) *
* 2004 (19,655,026) *
* 2005 (27,582,877) *
* 2006 (34,481,057) *
*****************************************************
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Penal Code by enhancing the punishment for the
offense of burglary of a vehicle from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony
of the third degree. Additionally, the bill would make the offense of
burglary of a vehicle punishable as a felony of the second degree if the
defendant has prior convictions for the offense of burglary of a vehicle.
The change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed
on or after September 1, 2001.
After 10 years of cumulative impact, the additional demand for prison
beds from this bill would peak at 3,500, assuming that the number of
offenders sentenced for this offense would not change in the future. At
$40 per day, the annual cost of either operating facilities or
contracting with other entities for 3,500 inmates is approximately $51
million.
Methodology
For fiscal year 2000 it is estimated that there were 1,640 misdemeanant
probation placements for the offense of burglary of a vehicle. Based on
direct court sentencing trends it is assumed that 337 of the of 1,640
placements would be sentenced directly to prison. It is also assumed
that the remaining 1,303 placements would be placed under felony
probation supervision. Offenders placed on felony probation will have a
revocation to prison rate of 39.4% after 3 years of supervision.
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 increase in the
number of people on parole supervision, due to the increased 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 and community supervision operating costs.
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: 410 Criminal Justice Policy Council
LBB Staff: JK, JC, GG