The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis.  The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to change the eligibility for community supervision for persons convicted of certain possession offenses under the Texas Controlled Substances Act.  Under the provisions of the bill, persons convicted of certain possession offenses who also met certain other conditions would be placed on community supervision rather than sentenced to a term of incarceration.

Requiring individuals to be placed under community supervision is expected to result in a decrease in the number of individuals admitted to state correctional institutions.  Whether the bill would result in a significant impact on state correctional populations cannot be determined due to the lack of data or information related to the number of people admitted to prison who meet the conditions specified in the bill which would require they be placed under community supervision rather than sentenced to a term of incarceration. After removing those individuals who had previously been convicted of a possession offense, possessed a substances with intent to deliver,  those who had previously been convicted of a felony offense, or those with certain other convictions as listed in the bill's provisions, 5,943 of those persons who were admitted to prison in fiscal year 2018 remained for further evaluation against the bill's remaining provisions.