Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1088 by Muñoz, Jr. (Relating to the creation of the offense of prohibited conduct of a bail bond surety.), As Introduced
The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to the offense of prohibited conduct of a bail bond surety. Under the provisions of the bill, certain conduct by certain individuals who are a bail bond surety would be punishable as a state jail felony.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years or Class A misdemeanor punishment. In addition to confinement, all felony level offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Creating an offense for which a criminal penalty is applied is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or the State due to longer terms of supervision in the community or longer terms of confinement in state correctional institutions. However, this analysis assumes the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would not result in a significant impact on the demand for state correctional resources.