| TO: | Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, Senate Committee on Education |
| FROM: | Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB653 by Taylor, Van (Relating to improper relationships between educators or certain other school personnel and students; creating an offense and expanding the applicability of existing offenses.), As Introduced |
The provisions of the bill that are the subject of this analysis would amend the Penal and Family Codes as they relate to felony sanctions for improper relationships between educators and students. Under the provisions of the bill, the offenses of improper relationship between educator and students, punishable as a second-degree felony, would be expanded to include any student and certain employees. The bill would also expand the list of individuals to whom the offenses of false report of abuse and neglect or failure to report abuse and neglect could be applied. The offenses of false report of abuse and neglect and failure to report abuse and neglect are punishable as a third-degree felony, a state jail felony, or a Class A misdemeanor, depending upon the specific circumstances of the offense.
A second-degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 20 years, a third-degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years, and 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.
Expanding the list of individuals to whom a criminal penalty is applied is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to longer terms of supervision in the community or longer terms of confinement in state correctional institutions. In fiscal year 2016, 68 individuals were arrested, 30 were placed on felony community supervision, and 11 were admitted to state correctional institutions for the offense of improper relationship between educator and students. In fiscal year 2016, less than 10 individuals were arrested, placed on felony community supervision, and admitted to state correctional institutions for the offenses of false report and failure to report abuse and neglect. This analysis assumes the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would not result in a significant impact on the demand of state correctional resources.
| Source Agencies: |
| LBB Staff: | UP, LM, JPo
|