LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 78TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
May 1, 2003

TO:
Honorable Ray Allen, Chair, House Committee on Corrections
 
FROM:
John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB1480 by Allen (Relating to the efficient administration of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted



Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB1480, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($1,755,286) through the biennium ending August 31, 2005.



Fiscal Year Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2004 ($877,643)
2005 ($877,643)
2006 ($877,643)
2007 ($877,643)
2008 ($877,643)




Fiscal Year Probable Savings/(Cost) from
GENERAL REVENUE FUND
1
2004 ($877,643)
2005 ($877,643)
2006 ($877,643)
2007 ($877,643)
2008 ($877,643)

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would amend the Government Code by requiring the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to report to the legislature not later than December 31, 2004, on the costs and feasibility of providing cognitive behavior training to corrections officers.  The bill would also require TDCJ, in consultation with specialists in corporate reorganization and efficiency from The University of Texas or Texas A&M University, to conduct a study to evaluate the organization arrangement and administration of TDCJ.  Areas of study would include: inmate transportation costs, maximizing the profitable and productive use of manufacturing capital investments, aggressive use of inmate labor, and complaint procedures and policies.  TDCJ would submit an annual report to the legislature on the progress of the study and the analysis conducted not later than December 1, 2003 and December 1, 2004.  The bill would also require TDCJ to implement a residential infant care and parenting program for mothers who are confined by the department.  The infant care and parenting program would be modeled after the program operated by the Texas Youth Commission (TYC). 

Methodology

The fiscal implications of the bill are based solely on the provision that would require TDCJ to implement a residential infant care and parenting program for mothers who are confined by the department.  For the purposes of this analysis it is assumed that the infant care and parenting program would be modeled after TYC’s Women In Need of Greater Strengths (WINGS) program which is designed to accommodate up to 14 mothers and their babies and allow the new mothers to keep their babies for 3 months.  It is assumed that TDCJ’s program would parallel TYC’s program by targeting the program for young mothers who will not be incarcerated for more than one year following the birth of a child.  Of the 222 women incarcerated by TDCJ that gave birth in fiscal year 2002, 3 were 18 years of age and 10 were 19 years of age.  Also of the 222 women incarcerated by TDCJ that gave birth, 105 were incarcerated as state jail felons and on average state jail felons are incarcerated for one year.  Even with these assumptions there is difficulty in modeling a TDCJ infant care and parenting program after TYC’s program due to differences in age, time served requirements of adjudications versus sentences, family situations, criminal history and drug abuse history. 

 

TYC’s contract rate of $171.75 per day per offender for the WINGS program includes the cost of day care, food, education and contract-employee salaries.  TDCJ currently pays only for prenatal care for mothers and allows the mother to keep the baby for the first 48 hours following birth.  The estimated cost per year to implement the program at TDCJ would be $877,643 (14 young women X  $171.75/day X 365 days = $877,643). 


Local Government Impact

No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.


Source Agencies:
696 Department of Criminal Justice
LBB Staff:
JK, WK, VDS, GG, AB, KG