Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1874 by Zedler (Relating to an improper relationship between certain educators and students.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Penal Code to provide that an employee of a public or private primary or secondary school commits an offense of improper relationship between educator and student by engaging in sexual contact, sexual intercourse, or deviate sexual intercourse with a person who is enrolled in a public or private primary or secondary school; rather than a public or private primary or secondary school at which the employee works. The offense of improper relationship between educator and student is currently punishable as a felony of the second degree.
A felony of the second degree is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 20 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
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 jail, state jail or prison. In fiscal year 2010, approximately 38 individuals were arrested, and of those arrested less than 5 were admitted to prison, and less than 15 were placed on felony community supervision for the offense of improper relationship between educator and student. Although the number of persons who would be prosecuted under the proposed statute is unknown, 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.