Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB982 by Carter (Relating to creating an offense for failure to install and maintain an ignition interlock device for persons convicted of certain intoxication offenses.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Penal Code to create failure to comply with a court order requiring ignition interlock. The provisions of the bill that create new punishment or enhance existing punishment for criminal offenses are the subject of this analysis. Under the provisions of the bill, failure to install an ignition interlock device by the date specified in the court order knowingly or failure to keep the device installed on the vehicle during the period specified in the court order knowingly for those convicted of an intoxication offense would be a Class A Misdemeanor. At present failure to comply with a court order for those convicted of intoxication offense is punishable by contempt.
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by mandatory post-conviction community supervision. 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.
Creating a penalty 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. For this analysis, it is assumed 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.