| TO: | Honorable Nicole Collier, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence |
| FROM: | John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB27 by Canales (Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for assault or aggravated assault of a federal law enforcement officer.), As Introduced |
The fiscal impact of implementing the bill is indeterminate due to the lack of data or information that would allow the number of cases in which the victim of assault or aggravated assault was a federal law enforcement officer to be identified from all other assault or aggravate assault cases. These data are necessary to estimate the fiscal impact of the bill's enhancement provision.
The bill would amend the Penal Code to increase the punishment for certain assault offenses if the offense is committed against a federal law enforcement officer.
Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in additional 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. The bill may have a negative population impact by increasing the number of people on felony community supervision or incarcerated within state correctional institutions. Whether the bill would result in a significant fiscal impact cannot be determined due to the lack of data or information related to the number of people prosecuted for assaulting federal law enforcement officers.
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of not more than $4,000, confinement in jail for a term not to exceed one year, or both. Lost revenue from reduced fines imposed and collected is not anticipated to have a significant fiscal impact.
| Source Agencies: | 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 696 Department of Criminal Justice
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| LBB Staff: | WP, LBO, LM, JPo, AF, DA
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