Honorable Brian Birdwell, Chair, Senate Committee on Border Security
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2 by Guillen (Relating to the punishment for certain criminal conduct involving the smuggling of persons or the operation of a stash house; increasing criminal penalties.), As Engrossed
The bill would increase the minimum term of imprisonment to ten years for the offenses of smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons, except that the minimum term of imprisonment for the offense of smuggling of persons would be five years under certain conditions. The bill would increase the minimum term of imprisonment to five years for the offense of operation of a stash house and make it punishable as a third degree felony or as a second degree felony under certain conditions. The bill would provide for punishment at the next highest category of offense with a ten year minimum term of imprisonment for the offenses of smuggling of persons, continuous smuggling of persons, and operation of a stash house when the offense is committed in a disaster or evacuated area, except that the minimum term of imprisonment would be fifteen years if the smuggling of persons or continuous smuggling of persons offense is a first degree felony. The bill would provide felony punishment enhancements and consecutive sentencing for certain offenses when committed in the course of smuggling of persons into this country in violation of federal law.
Increasing the penalty for an existing offense may result in additional demands upon state correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals confined and in the length of stay for individuals sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2022, there were 6,599 individuals arrested, 202 individuals placed on adult community supervision, and 150 individuals admitted to an adult state correctional institution for felony smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons offenses which would be subject to a minimum ten year term of imprisonment under the bill's provisions. There were 116 individuals arrested and 1 individual placed on adult community supervision for the offense of operation of a stash house which would be punishable as a third degree felony with a minimum five year term of imprisonment under the bill's provisions.
In fiscal year 2022, there were 106,193 individuals arrested, 12,517 individuals placed on adult community supervision, 8,855 individuals placed on juvenile community supervision, 1,331 individuals admitted to an adult state correctional institution, and 98 individuals admitted to a juvenile state correctional institution for an offense that may have been eligible for an increased penalty under the bill's provisions. However, it is unknown how many of these cases included conduct eligible for an increased penalty under the bill's provisions.
The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to the lack of data to estimate the prevalence of conduct that would be subject to an increased criminal penalty under the bill's provisions.