| TO: | Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB305 by Harless (Relating to the punishment prescribed for burglary of a vehicle.), As Introduced |
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
| Fiscal Year | Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds |
|---|---|
| 2012 | ($523,041) |
| 2013 | ($1,293,259) |
| 2014 | ($1,850,311) |
| 2015 | ($2,224,591) |
| 2016 | ($2,493,350) |
| Fiscal Year | Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1 |
|---|---|
| 2012 | ($523,041) |
| 2013 | ($1,293,259) |
| 2014 | ($1,850,311) |
| 2015 | ($2,224,591) |
| 2016 | ($2,493,350) |
The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to the punishment prescribed for burglary of a vehicle. Under current statute, the offense of burglary of a vehicle is punishable as a state jail felony if the defendant has been previously convicted two or more times or the vehicle/part is a rail car; otherwise the offense is punishable as a Class A Misdemeanor. The criminal behavior covered under the provisions of the bill would be a state jail felony if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant had any previous conviction for the offense of burglary of a vehicle. The bill would repeal Section 30.04(d-1) of the Penal Code, related to defendants previously convicted for the offense of burglary of a vehicle. The bill would also repeal provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the minimum period of community supervision for offenders identified in the bill.
The bill would become effective September 1, 2011 and apply only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of the act.
In fiscal year 2010, there were 51 offenders placed on felony community supervision and 156 offenders admitted to state jail for the offense of burglary of a vehicle punishable as a state jail felony. The population impact as a result of the provisions of the bill will come from defendants who have been previously convicted of the offense of burglary of a vehicle and whose offense is currently punishable as a Class A Misdemeanor but would be punishable as a state jail felony as a result of the bill. In fiscal year 2010, there were 1,589 offenders placed on misdemeanor community supervision for a Class A Misdemeanor offense of burglary of a vehicle. Based on arrest history data, direct court commitments, and revocation rates, it is estimated that approximately 28 percent of the individuals convicted of a state jail felony for the offense of burglary of a vehicle, and who have a criminal history for this offense, would be sentenced to a term of incarceration in a state jail as either a direct court commitment or as a result of felony community supervision revocation; the remainder of the individuals would be placed under felony community supervision annually as a result of the bill.
In order to estimate the future impact of the proposed conditions of the bill, the changes proposed for the offense of burglary of a vehicle policy are applied in a simulation model to: 1) a state jail population that reflects the distribution of offenses, sentence lengths, and time served; and 2) a felony community supervision model reflecting the increase in the number of people supervised. Costs of incarceration by the Department of Criminal Justice are estimated on the basis of $43.03 per inmate per day for state jail facilities, reflecting costs per day for State-operated facilities in fiscal year 2010. The costs of felony community supervision are estimated on the basis of $2.92 per day.
Increasing the penalty for the offense of burglary of a vehicle from a Class A Misdemeanor to a state jail felony if the defendant meets certain requirements would represent a shift in responsibility from local government to the State relating to the burden of confinement of convicted offenders. The shift in responsibility is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of the State; the expected positive impact to local government would be spread proportionately, based on the frequency of convictions.
| Source Agencies: |
| LBB Staff: | JOB, ADM, ESi, GG, LM
|