Honorable Abel Herrero, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2498 by Miller, Rick (Relating to the punishment for the offense of delivery of marihuana or possession with the intent to deliver marihuana.), As Introduced
The bill would amend various sections of the Health and Safety Code as they relate to the punishment for the offense of delivery of marihuana or possession with the intent to deliver marihuana. Under the provisions of the bill, delivery of marihuana or possession with the intent to deliver marihuana would be punishable at both the misdemeanor and felony levels with the severity increasing based on the amount of marihuana delivered or possessed with the intent to deliver. Under current law the delivery of marihuana is punishable at various misdemeanor and felony levels with the severity increasing based on the amount of marihuana delivered and whether remuneration was involved. The bill would also make corresponding changes to drug free zone statute. Under the provisions of the bill, the class B misdemeanor punishment for delivery of marihuana would no longer exist.
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year and/or a fine not to exceed $4,000. 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). A felony of the third degree is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Adjusting the range of amounts possessed for which a criminal penalty is applied is expected to impact the demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the state. The bill may have a positive impact by decreasing the number of people on felony community supervision or incarcerated within state correctional institutions for delivery of smaller amounts of marihuana. Whether the bill would result in a significant impact to the state is indeterminate due to a lack of statewide data on the exact amount of a marihuana possessed by those convicted of delivery of marihuana. At present data do not exist that would enable the identification and categorization of delivery of marihuana cases by offense level or degree based on the exact amount of marihuana possessed.