The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure by establishing time credits for certain defendants who have been granted community supervision for certain felonies. The provisions of the bill that are the subject of this analysis allow for community supervision to be completed early through the application of time credits. The bill specifies the time credits eligible defendants may receive for particular behaviors, such as earning a degree, making full payment of court costs and fines, and successfully completing a treatment program. The bill would require the supervision officer to report to the court when the defendant is entitled to one or more time credits, and the court must then conduct a review of the defendant’s community supervision history to determine if the defendant is entitled to a reduction or termination of the community supervision term. The bill would also provide that the court may order that a defendant’s time credit may be forfeited under certain circumstances.
                                           
In fiscal year 2010, approximately 22,013 offenders were placed on felony community supervision (13,982 state jail felony and 8,031 third degree felony). After removing those ineligible for time credits approximately 19,681 offenders (13,365 state jail felony and 6,226 third degree felony) would be subject to the provisions of the bill had it been in place when the offender was placed on community supervision in fiscal year 2010.  Whether the bill would result in a significant population reduction cannot be determined due to a lack of statewide community supervision data in the following areas: 1) a repository of data on conditions of community supervision; 2) the program participation or completion of programs by defendants on community supervision; and 3) data on fees paid to courts by defendants on community supervision. The Office of Court Administration and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice were unable to provide data that would help in providing an estimate of the population reduction as a result of the provisions of the bill.