| TO: | Honorable Abel Herrero, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB574 by Lozano (Relating to the punishment prescribed for the offense of bail jumping and failure to appear.), As Introduced |
The bill would amend the Penal Code to make failure to appear in accordance with the terms of release from custody, with or without bail, punishable as a felony of the first degree if the offense for which the person is to appear is murder or capital murder. Under current statute, the punishment for failure to appear in accordance with the terms of release from custody is a third degree felony if the offense for which the person was conditionally released is a felony. The bill would take effect on September 1, 2013 and would apply to an offense committed on or after the effective date.
Increasing the penalty 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, it is assumed the number of persons affected by the provisions of this bill would not result in a significant impact on programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.
| Source Agencies: |
| LBB Staff: | UP, LM, ESi, GG
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