Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB2176 by Hughes (Relating to the placement of certain substances in Penalty Groups 1 and 3 of the Texas Controlled Substances Act for the purposes of prosecution of criminal offenses involving those substances.), As Introduced
The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Health and Safety Code as it relates to the addition of certain substances to the list of Penalty Group 1 and Penalty Group 3 substances in the Texas Controlled Substances Act. Under current law, possession, manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to deliver a Penalty Group 1 or a Penalty Group 3 substance is punishable at various felony levels with punishment based on the amount of substance possessed, manufactured, delivered, or possessed with the intent to deliver.
A first degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for life or a term from 5 to 99 years; a second degree felony from 2 to 20 years; a third degree felony 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, most felony offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Expanding the list of substances for which possession, manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to deliver is a criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon 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. 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.