Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB739 by Fletcher (Relating to the elimination of the statute of limitations for certain felony offenses.), As Introduced
The provisions of the bill that are the subject of this analysis would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure by expanding the list of felony offenses for which there is no statute of limitations. Under the provisions of the bill, felony indictments in which the operator of a vessel involved in a collision that resulted in death or serious bodily injury left the scene of the accident (Section 31.127 (d), Parks and Wildlife Code) or if evidence related to an investigation or official proceeding involving the death of a person had been tampered with or fabricated (Section 37.09, Penal Code) could be presented at any time.
A check of Texas Department of Criminal Justice records, Department of Public Safety records, Office of Court Administration records, and Jail Standards Commission records did not reveal any information that would help in an accurate assumption regarding the number of offenses in which a felony indictment could not be sought because the statute of limitations had expired. 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.