Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1546 by Allen (relating to the award of diligent participation credit to defendants confined in a state jail felony facility.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted
The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure as it relates to the awarding of diligent participation credit to defendants confined in a state jail facility. Judges would be required to provide a finding of presumptive diligent participation credit eligibility for offenders convicted of state jail felonies. For offenders who received the presumptive finding, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) would be required to credit up to one-fifth of the sentence against any time a state jail inmate was required to serve for diligent participation in certain programs. For offenders who did not receive the presumptive finding, TDCJ would continue to provide judicial notification of diligent participation credit eligibility and judges would maintain discretion in awarding diligent participation credit.
Providing another mechanism to allow state jail offenders to receive diligent participation credits could decrease the demands on state correctional resources due to shorter lengths of stay in state jail facilities. Statewide data are not available to indicate how often judges may grant an affirmative presumptive finding regarding diligent participation credit, which would require TDCJ to automatically award diligent participation credits. However, this analysis assumes the bill's provisions would not result in a significant impact on state correctional populations, programs, or workloads.