Honorable Terry Keel, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Deputy Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1249 by Reyna (Relating to criminal punishment for aggressive driving that results in the death of a person.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure by adding a provision that defines a finding regarding aggressive driving. The finding would be entered under certain conditions for offenses involving criminal homicide offenses. Offenders with an affirmative finding regarding aggressive driving would be classified as aggravated offenders and would not be eligible for judge ordered community supervision. Such offenders would be eligible for parole when their calendar time served equals one-half of their sentence, or 30 years, whichever is less, but in no event would be eligible for release in less than two years. The bill would also amend the Penal Code by enhancing the penalty for the offense of criminally negligent homicide from a state jail felony to a felony of the third degree if a finding is made that the offender engaged in aggressive driving.
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.
A third degree felony is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than 10 years or less than 2 years, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
The number of offenders with the conditions present to necessitate an enhanced punishment from this bill is unknown due to the lack of information on individuals that would have enhanced penalties due to findings regarding aggressive driving. It is assumed that for many of the serious offenders affected by the bill, the average time served in prison by persons likely to be affected by the provisions of this bill is already greater than five years. For the offense of criminally negligent homicide, which is currently punishable as a state jail felony, there were 21 state jail admissions and 27 community supervision placements in fiscal year 2004. Again, the eventual impact of the enhancement provision of the bill on these offenders is unknown; however, it is anticipated that there would be no significant impact on demands on the adult corrections agencies during the first five years following passage of this bill.