BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4843

By: Holland

Community Safety, Select

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Under current law, it is a third degree felony for a person who has been convicted of a felony to possess a firearm. A third degree felony offense in Texas is punishable by as little as two years in prison. With violent crime on the rise in some parts of Texas, there is a displayed need for an increase in penalties for the unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. H.B. 4843 seeks to make this offense a second degree felony and to create a mandatory 10-year minimum sentence for the offense.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 4843 amends the Penal Code to increase the penalty for the unlawful possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a felony from a third degree felony to a second degree felony and to establish a 10-year mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for such conduct. The bill applies only to an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date and provides for the continuation of the law in effect before the bill's effective date for purposes of an offense, or any element thereof, that occurred before that date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.