LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT STATEMENT

88TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
March 20, 2023

TO:
Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
 
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
SB224 by Alvarado (Relating to the prosecution of and punishment for theft of a catalytic converter; increasing a criminal penalty.), As Introduced

The bill would add a presumption that a defendant in possession of two or more catalytic converters removed from two or more vehicles unlawfully appropriated the property except in certain circumstances. The bill would make theft a state jail felony if the value of the property stolen is less than $30,000 and is a catalytic converter and would increase the penalty to the next higher category if the defendant possessed a firearm during the commission of the offense.

Increasing the penalty for an existing 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.

In fiscal year 2022, 35,436 individuals were arrested, 5,420 individuals were placed on adult community supervision, 1,203 individuals were placed on juvenile probation supervision, 2,107 individuals were admitted into an adult state correctional institution, and 5 individuals were admitted into a juvenile state correctional facility for a theft offense. It is unknown how many of these cases involved a catalytic converter.

The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to the lack of statewide data necessary to identify cases where the property unlawfully appropriated involved a catalytic converter.



Source Agencies:
LBB Staff:
JMc, DDel, LBO, MGol