Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1363 by Johnson (Relating to the prosecution of and punishment for the offense of prostitution; creating a criminal offense.), As Engrossed
The bill would amend the Health and Safety Code as it relates to the prosecution and punishment for the offense of prostitution. The bill would separate the punishment for the seller from that for the buyer and reduce the punishment for the seller from a state jail felony to a class A misdemeanor. Under the provisions of the bill, punishment for the seller would be a class B or class A misdemeanor and would be based on the number of previous convictions. Under current law, prostitution, regardless of the individual's role in the encounter, is punishable at the misdemeanor and felony level with the punishment based on the specific circumstances of the offense.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for 180 days to two years and an optional fine not to exceed $10,000. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in jail for a term not to exceed one year and an optional fine not to exceed $4,000.
Reducing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in decreased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the state due to shorter terms of supervision in the community or shorter terms of confinement state correctional institutions. The bill would have a positive population impact by decreasing the number of people under felony community supervision or incarcerated within state correctional institutions. Whether the bill would result in a significant reduction in correctional populations and demands on state correctional resources is indeterminate due to a lack of statewide data on the individual's role in the encounter, specifically which of these individuals served as the seller in the encounter and would therefore be eligible for the penalty reduction outlined in the bill's provisions. In fiscal year 2014, 948 people were arrested, 167 were placed under felony community supervision, and 412 were admitted into state correctional institutions for prostitution.