| TO: | Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB228 by Fletcher (Relating to the prosecution of the offense of criminal nonsupport.), As Introduced |
The provisions of the bill that are the subject of this analysis would amend the Penal Code by providing further clarification of the conditions that must be met regarding the offense of criminal nonsupport. Under the provision of the bill a person commits an offense if the person knows or should have known payment was not received before the fifth day after the specified due date or is held in contempt of court for failure to provide support. The offense of criminal nonsupport is punishable as a state jail felony.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000 or Class A Misdemeanor punishment (mandatory post conviction community supervision).
Expanding the list of behaviors for which a penalty is applied 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. However, in the case of this bill, 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. It is expected that individuals who would be affected by the provision of this bill are currently being sentenced for other offenses.
| Source Agencies: |
| LBB Staff: | JOB, GG, LM
|