Honorable Chris Harris, Chair, Senate Committee on Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1098 by Huffman (Relating to prohibited practices regarding unauthorized recordings.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Business and Commerce Code related to prohibited practices around unauthorized recordings. The bill would (1) expand the list of devices that may be used to make unauthorized recordings, (2) establish minimum fines for offenders, (3) require that the offender make restitution to the owner or lawful producer of a master recording that has suffered financial loss as a result of the offense or to the trade association that represents the owner.
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 jails or prison. However, in the case of this bill, it is assumed that 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.
The bill would amend Business and Commerce Code to impose minimum fines for offenses involving the possession of improperly labeled recordings, and require a convicted offender to pay restitution to a lawful producer that has suffered financial loss from the offense. Fiscal impact would vary by number of convictions but is not anticipated to be significant.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council