| TO: | Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice |
| FROM: | John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB1320 by Christian (Relating to creating an offense for engaging in certain conduct relating to cockfighting and to the criminal and civil consequences of committing that offense. ), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted |
The bill would amend the Penal Code by creating the offense of cockfighting. The offense would be punishable as either a state jail felony, a Class A misdemeanor, or a Class C misdemeanor depending on provisions specified by the bill. The bill would amend the Penal Code by including the offense of cockfighting in the list of offenses for which the engaging in organized criminal activity provision is applied. The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure by specifying the destruction or forfeiture of cockfighting equipment following the final conviction of a person for the offense of cockfighting, and in adding to property defined as contraband. The bill would also amend the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the forfeiture of property and the jurisdiction of the attorney representing the state involving such cases. It is estimated implementation of the bill would not have a significant impact on the costs of state or local government.
| Source Agencies: | 696 Department of Criminal Justice
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, ESi, GG, LM
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