Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2196 by Rodriguez, Eddie (Relating to the prosecution of the offense of theft of service.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Penal Code by providing conditions that must be met for the offense of theft of services regarding the failure to make full payment after receiving notice demanding payment for the service rendered. The offense of theft of service is currently punishable at various levels, ranging from a Class C Misdemeanor to a felony of the first degree, with the level of punishment increasing in severity based on the dollar amount of the service stolen.
A felony of the third degree is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000. 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. A felony of the first degree is punishable by confinement in prison for life or a term from 5 to 99 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 1,129 individuals were arrested, and of those arrested less than 5 were admitted to state jail or prison, approximately 40 were placed on felony community supervision, and approximately 135 were placed on misdemeanor community supervision for theft of service. For this analysis, it is assumed implementing the provisions of the bill would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources of those agencies. It is expected that individuals who would be affected by the provisions of the bill are currently being sentenced for other offenses.