Honorable Jeff Leach, Chair, House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB4441 by Neave (relating to requests for certain information by the Texas Judicial Council regarding reductions of state jail felony punishment to misdemeanor punishment.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB4441, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($90,450) through the biennium ending August 31, 2021.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
Fiscal Year
Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2020
($90,450)
2021
$0
2022
$0
2023
$0
2024
$0
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
2020
($90,450)
2021
$0
2022
$0
2023
$0
2024
$0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Government Code to require the Texas Judicial Council (TJC) to collect statistics related to number and type of offenses for which a court authorized prosecution of a state jail felony offense as a Class A misdemeanor; the number and type of offenses for which the court reduced punishment from a felony to a misdemeanor; and the number of defendants placed into pretrial diversion or pretrial intervention programs.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2019.
Methodology
According to the Office of Court Administration, one-time programming costs of $90,450 in fiscal year 2020 would be necessary to upgrade OCA's court activity report database to include the additional court statistics required to be collected under the provisions of the bill.
Technology
OCA estimates one-time programming costs of $90,450 in fiscal year 2020 to implement the provisions of the bill.
Local Government Impact
According to the Texas Association of Counties, no significant fiscal implication to county governments is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council