Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3819 by Howard (relating to the prosecution of the offense of improper contact with a victim and to providing certain rights to a victim of a criminal offense and the victim’s family regarding contact by an inmate or an inmate’s representative.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would amend the Penal Code to make it an offense for an individual to engage in conduct that constitutes contact with certain victims if the director of the facility has not received written and dated consent to contact from those victim. The bill would also expand the list of offenses for which contacting the victim of said offense would constitute an additional offense. Under existing statute, improper contact with a victim while confined is a Class A misdemeanor or third degree felony depending on the specific circumstances of the offense.
A third degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Expanding the list of individuals with whom improper contact constitutes a criminal penalty is expected to result in an increase in the demand on the correctional resources of the counties or of the State due to a potential increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement within state correctional institutions. In fiscal year 2016, fewer than 10 individuals were arrested, fewer than 10 were placed under felony community supervision, and fewer than 10 were admitted into state correctional institutions for the offense of improper contact with a victim under existing statute punishable as a third degree felony. 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.