LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
FISCAL NOTE, 81ST LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
April 19, 2009

TO:
Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
 
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
HB2003 by McCall (Relating to the creation of the offense of online harassment. ), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend the Penal Code by creating the offense of Online Harassment. Under the provisions of the bill using the name or persona of another person on social networking sites without the person's consent would be punishable as as a third degree felony.    The bill would make using identifying information belonging to another person to send certain electronic communication punishable as a Class A misdemeanor and provide for punishment enhancement to that of a third degree felony if the offense was committed with the intent to solicit a response by emergency personnel.

The bill would take effect on September 1, 2009 and apply to offenses committed on or after that date.

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.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.


Source Agencies:
696 Department of Criminal Justice
LBB Staff:
JOB, ESi, GG, LM, TP