Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB607 by Minjarez (Relating to a court's continuing jurisdiction to handle the disposition of a felony case.), As Introduced
The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. Under the provisions of the bill, judges would have expanded options to alter felony sentences and place defendants under community supervision on the motion of the defendant, the state's attorney, or on the judge's own motion. If a judge declined to grant such a motion, the judge would also be permitted to reduce the defendant's original term of imprisonment.
Providing additional options to allow for a sentence of imprisonment to be suspended so an individual can be placed under community supervision and allowing for additional options to reduce a term of imprisonment is expected to result in decreased demands upon State correctional resources due to fewer individuals confined and individuals confined for fewer days within state correctional institutions. In fiscal year 2016, 25,406 individuals were admitted into prison for a new offense. Based on an analysis of previous years admission data, of those admitted, 19,705 had not been previously admitted to prison for a felony offense and could be subject to the bill's provisions. Based on an analysis of community supervision tracking system data in fiscal year 2015, 12,161 individuals under state jail felony community supervision had their supervision revoked. Of those whose state jail felony community supervision was revoked in fiscal year 2015, 4,726 individuals were confined longer than 76 days in state jail and could be subject to the bill's provisions. The bill may have a positive impact on correctional populations by decreasing the number of individuals confined within state correctional institutions and the number of days those initially sentenced to a term of incarceration are confined. Whether the bill would result in a significant population impact can not be determined due to the lack of statewide data related to the number of potential motions filed, number of motions denied, and the number of days a sentence would be decreased.