The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to eliminate the three-year statute of limitations for tampering with or fabricating physical evidence if the evidence relates to an investigation or official proceeding involving death and the offense is a felony.

The bill eliminates any time limitations on the ability to prosecute certain felony offenses. Removing this restriction is expected to increase demands on state and/or county correctional agency resources by expanding the number of offenders eligible for prosecution and 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.

In fiscal year 2012, there were 9,171 felony arrests; 531 felony community supervision placements; and 474 state incarcerations for tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. To project the increase in incarcerations, an analysis of fiscal year 2012 state correctional facility admissions for offenses with no statute of limitations under current law was performed. Of those admissions, 27.4 percent were sentenced more than three years after their offense date. This analysis assumes that this percentage reflects the maximum percentage of future incarcerations for disturbing physical evidence prosecuted at least three years after the offense was committed; this percentage reflects 165 offenders. However, the bill affects only those offenses involving death. Although the number of offenses involving death 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.