Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2156 by Coleman (Relating to the repeal of the offense of homosexual conduct.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Penal Code to repeal the offense of homosexual conduct. Under current statute, homosexual conduct is punishable as a Class C Misdemeanor.
A Class C Misdemeanor is punishable by a fine not to exceed $500 (up to 180 days of deferred disposition; no confinement).
Decreasing the list of behaviors for which a penalty is applied for any criminal offense is expected to result in decreased demands upon the correctional resources of counties and or of the State. For this analysis, it is assumed that the number of offenders no longer 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.