BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1889

By: Israel

County Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been noted that the consequences of committing a misdemeanor often include jail time even for those charged with low-level offenses, which some suggest is a waste of taxpayer dollars and may disproportionally impact certain populations. These concerns have prompted calls for more detailed reporting concerning prisoners confined in county jails for misdemeanor offenses. C.S.H.B. 1889 seeks to address this issue by requiring each county to specifically account for the number of county jail prisoners convicted of Class C misdemeanors and of Class A and B misdemeanors and for certain demographic information for each pretrial offender and convicted offender in its monthly county jail population report.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1889 amends the Government Code to require the information submitted by a county to the Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) in the monthly county jail population reports concerning the number of prisoners convicted of misdemeanor offenses and confined in each county jail to be split into two categories: those convicted of Class C misdemeanors and those convicted of Class A and Class B misdemeanors. The bill requires that the information submitted by a county to TCJS in such a report concerning each pretrial offender and convicted offender be categorized by sex, race or ethnicity, and age. The bill requires a county to submit the first report with the revised classification and categorized information not later than October 5, 2019. The bill requires the TCJS to make the information in monthly county jail population reports available on the TCJS website.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1889 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute includes a requirement for each county that submits a monthly county jail population report to TCJS to categorize each pretrial offender and convicted offender confined in the county jail by sex, race or ethnicity, and age.