Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2822 by Coleman (Relating to the penalty for and certain other civil consequences of engaging in disorderly conduct for certain unlawful purposes. ), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code as it relates to the penalty for and certain other civil consequences of engaging in disorderly conduct for certain unlawful purposes. The provisions of the bill that create new punishment or enhance existing punishment for criminal offenses are the subject of this analysis. Under the provisions of the bill, engaging in certain disorderly conduct with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person would be punishable as a state jail felony. At present, engaging in disorderly conduct for a lewd or unlawful purpose is 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). A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000 or Class A Misdemeanor punishment (mandatory post conviction community supervision).
Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties and or of the State due to longer terms of probation, or longer terms of confinement in county jail, state jail or prison. When an offense is changed from a misdemeanor to a felony, there is a transfer of the burden of confinement of convicted offenders from the counties to the State. In fiscal year 2010, a total of 23,373 arrests for disorderly conduct were made including, but not limited to: using abusive, indecent, profane, or vulgar language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; making an offensive gesture or display in a public place, and the gesture or display tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace; creating, by chemical means, a noxious and unreasonable odor in a public place; abusing or threatening a person in a public place in an obviously offensive manner; making unreasonable noise in a public place other than a sport shooting range, or in or near a private residence that he has no right to occupy; fighting with another in a public place; exposing his anus or genitals in a public place and is reckless about whether another may be present who will be offended or alarmed by his act; and engaging in certain disorderly conduct for a lewd or unlawful purpose. Although the number of offenders who engaged in disorderly conduct with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person 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.