| TO: | Honorable Jaime Capelo, Chair, House Committee on Public Health |
| FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB987 by Coleman (Relating to removal of human body parts after death; providing a penalty.), As Introduced |
The bill would amend the Health and Safety Code by making the unauthorized removal of a body part, or the acceptance of an unauthorized removed body part punishable as a state jail felony. The bill would also amend the Penal Code by enhancing the punishment for the offense of prohibition of the purchase and sale of human organs from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony.
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year, a fine not to exceed $4,000, or both fine and imprisonment.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to longer terms of probation, or, longer terms of confinement in county jails or prison. When an offense is changed from a misdemeanor to a felony, there is a transfer of the burden of confinement of convicted offenders from the counties to the State. For this analysis it is assumed that the number of additional 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: | |
| LBB Staff: | JK, GG
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