TO:	Honorable Jerry Madden, Chair, House Committee on Corrections
FROM:	John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB2352 by Allen (Relating to the eligibility of certain inmates for release to mandatory supervision.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

The bill would amend the Government Code as it relates to the eligibility of certain inmates for release on mandatory supervision.  Under the provisions of the bill, the parole board would be required to release certain offenders when the offender's calendar time and good time equal their sentence. Under current statute an offender is eligible for review when an offender’s good time and calendar time equal their sentence length and the parole panel can deny release or set off review in certain circumstances.

Requiring the automatic release of offenders is expected to result in decreased demands upon the correctional resources of the State due to shorter terms of confinement in prison. In fiscal year 2010, 8,594 offenders were discharged from prison and after removing from that group those ineligible for release to mandatory supervision either because of current statute or the provisions of the bill, 3,221 of those offenders would be subject to the provisions of the bill. Of the 3,221 offenders subject to the provisions of the bill, 456 offenders accrued no good time and would still be subject to discharge release leaving 2,765 offenders released to mandatory supervision and serving shorter terms of incarceration (approximately 3.89 years).  It is likely a substantial number of currently incarcerated offenders would be released as a result of the bill but the number would be contingent on the amount of good time accrued and time served by these offenders on the effective date of the bill, and the ability of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to process offenders for release.

Assuming that sentencing patterns and release policies not addressed in this bill remain constant, the probable impact of implementing the provisions of the bill during each of the first five years following passage, in terms of daily demand upon the adult and juvenile corrections agencies, is estimated as follows: