| TO: | Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee On Criminal Justice |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB275 by Watson (Relating to the penalty for the offense of leaving the scene of an accident that involves personal injury or death.), As Introduced |
The bill would amend the Transportation Code to enhance the punishment for failure to stop and render aid in an accident resulting in the death of a person from a third degree felony to a second degree felony. The bill would take effect on September 1, 2013, and applies only to offenses committed on or after that date.
The bill increases the penalty for failure to stop and render aid in an accident resulting in the death of a person. Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to increase demands on state and/or county correctional agency resources due to longer terms of community supervision, county jail confinement, state correctional institution confinement, and/or parole. However, in the case of the bill, it is assumed that the number of offenders supervised or incarcerated under this statute would not significantly impact state correctional agencies’ workload and programs.
| Source Agencies: | 405 Department of Public Safety
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| LBB Staff: | UP, ESi, GG, JPo
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