| TO: | Honorable Terry Keel, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence |
| FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB869 by Burnam (Relating to the creation of offenses prohibiting the trafficking of persons, including children, and to the compensation of victims of those offenses.), As Introduced |
The provision of the bill that is the subject of this analysis would amend the Penal Code by creating the offenses of trafficking of persons and trafficking of children for prostitution. The offense of trafficking of persons would be punishable as a felony of the second degree, unless the offense results in the death of a person, or involves the offense of kidnapping or aggravated sexual assault, in which case the offense is punishable as a felony of the first degree. The offense of trafficking of children for prostitution would be punishable as a felony of the second degree, unless the person trafficked was under the age of 14, in which case the offense is punishable as a felony of the first degree.
A second degree felony is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for any term of not more than 20 years or less than 2 years, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
A first degree felony is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for life or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 5 years, or, in addition to imprisonment, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
The impact of creating the offenses of trafficking of persons and trafficking of children for prostitution would depend on the number of future convictions in Texas. Since January 2001, the U.S. Justice Department has charged, convicted, or secured sentences for 92 human traffickers in 21 cases. For this analysis it is assumed that the number of offenders convicted under this statute would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.
| Source Agencies: | 302 Office Of The Attorney General, 324 Department Of Human Services
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| LBB Staff: | JK, VDS, GG
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