Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1300 by Geren (Relating to the punishment for the criminal offense of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.), As Introduced
The bill would reduce the punishment for tampering with or fabricating physical evidence from a third degree felony to a Class A misdemeanor if the thing altered, destroyed, or concealed could be used as evidence in the investigation only of or an official proceeding related only to a misdemeanor offense.
Reducing the punishment for an existing criminal offense may result in reduced demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible decrease in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2022, there were 5,420 individuals arrested, 565 individuals placed on adult community supervision, 113 individuals placed on juvenile probation supervision, 634 individuals admitted to an adult state correctional institution, and no individuals admitted to a juvenile state correctional institution for the felony offense of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to the lack of data to identify the number of cases in which the physical evidence tampered with or fabricated was related only to an misdemeanor offense.