Honorable Brian Birdwell, Chair, Senate Committee on Border Security
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB4 by Spiller (Relating to prohibitions on the illegal entry into or illegal presence in this state by a person who is an alien, the enforcement of those prohibitions, and authorizing under certain circumstances the removal of persons who violate certain of those prohibitions; creating criminal offenses.), As Engrossed
The bill would create misdemeanor offenses for illegal entry from a foreign nation and illegal reentry by certain aliens. The penalties would be increased ranging from a state jail felony to a second degree felony in cases with certain previous convictions or under certain conditions. The bill would make it a second degree felony for a person to refuse to comply with an order to return to the foreign nation from which the person entered or attempted to enter the state as outlined in the bill's provisions.
Creating a new criminal offense may result in additional demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
According to the information reported by the Department of Public Safety (DPS) pursuant to Article IX, Section 7.10 of the GAA and Section 9 of House Bill 9, Eighty-seventh Legislature, Second Called Session, DPS reported 63,707 detentions and referrals to federal authorities in border regions during fiscal year 2022. It is unknown if any of these cases included conduct outlined in the bill's provisions.
The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to a lack of data to estimate the prevalence of conduct outlined in the bill's provisions that would be subject to criminal penalties.