Honorable Abel Herrero, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2803 by Toth (Relating to the procedures applicable to state jail felony community supervision and to the punishment prescribed for certain state jail felonies.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code as it relates to the procedures applicable to state jail felony community supervision and to the punishment prescribed for certain state jail felonies. The bill's provisions require judges to suspend the imposition of sentence for state jail felons and place them on community supervision. Under current law, this requirement only pertains to state jail felons prosecuted for certain drug offenses. The bill's provisions allow judges to impose the sentence if the state jail felon was convicted of certain state jail felonies involving possession of controlled substances, had a previous conviction for a felony other than a state jail felony, had a previous conviction for a misdemeanor assault or an offense against the family, had previous convictions for three or more state jail felonies, or was previously placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for the offense for which the offender is being convicted. Under current law, judges may impose the sentence if the state jail felon had a previous conviction for a felony other than a state jail felony reduced to misdemeanor punishment or who was convicted of certain state jail felonies involving possession of controlled substances. Finally, the bill's provisions elevate the punishment from a state jail felony to a second-degree felony if the offender has previously been convicted of three state jail felonies for which the defendant was placed on community supervision. Under current law, the punishment of a state jail felony offense is elevated to a third-degree felony if the defendant has previously been convicted of two state jail felonies.
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. A felony of the second degree is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 20 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Among fiscal year 2012 prison releases, an estimated 17,109 offenders were incarcerated for state jail offenses that, under the bill's provisions, would be placed on community supervision rather than incarcerated. In fiscal year 2012, the average period of state incarceration for these offenders was 249 days (or 8.3 months) while the average length of community supervision for offenders convicted of state jail offenses was 1,045 days (or 2.9 years). Since fewer offenders would be incarcerated, daily state jail savings are estimated to be $42.90 per offender. Since more offenders would be under community supervision, daily community supervision costs are estimated to be $1.38 per offender. Also under the provisions of the bill, an estimated 1,984 offenders would be incarcerated for a state jail offense that has been elevated to a second-degree felony rather than a third-degree felony due to three prior state jail felony convictions. This change is expected to increase the average length of state incarceration from 563 days (1.5 years) to 903 days (or 2.5 years) for these offenders. Since more offenders would be incarcerated, daily prison costs are estimated to be $50.04 per offender. Overall, the savings from reduced state jail incarcerations substantially exceed the costs from a small increase in prison incarcerations and significant increase community supervision. Therefore, it is assumed that the number of offenders supervised or incarcerated under this statute would significantly reduce the costs associated with state correctional agencies' workload and programs.
In order to estimate the future impact of the bill, the proposed conditions of the bill have been analyzed using recent trends observed in populations released from prison for these offenses. Assuming sentencing patterns and release policies not addressed in this bill remain constant, the probable impact of implementing the provisions of the bill during each of the first five years following passage, in terms of the number of additional people incarcerated in adult corrections agencies, is estimated as follows: