Honorable Abel Herrero, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3494 by Moody (Relating to the punishment for the offense of graffiti and the creation of a graffiti pretrial diversion program; authorizing a fee.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would amend the Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure as it relates to the punishment for graffiti and the creation of a graffiti pretrial diversion program. For graffiti offenses marking specially protected structures (e.g., school), the bill would require the pecuniary loss total at least $500 to be a state jail felony. Finally, for graffiti offenses that are state jail felonies or lower level offenses, the bill would allow defendants to participate in a pre-trial diversion program and require that the court dismiss the case if the defendant successfully completed the program.
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).
The bill reduces the penalty for certain graffiti offenses. Reducing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to decrease demands on state and/or county correctional agency resources due to shorter terms of community supervision, county jail confinement, state correctional institution confinement, and/or parole. However, it is assumed that the number of offenders supervised or incarcerated under this statute would not significantly impact state correctional agency resources.