Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1318 by Huffman (Relating to the release of defendants on bail, the duties of a magistrate in certain criminal proceedings, and the appointment of certain criminal law hearing officers; creating a criminal offense.), As Introduced
The bill would create an offense for violating a condition of bond which would be punishable as a Class A misdemeanor if the offense for which the person was released on bond was a misdemeanor or as a felony of the same felony category if the person was released for a felony offense. If it is shown at the trial of the offense that the person violated the condition of bond by possessing a firearm, the penalty would be increased to a state jail felony if the person was released for a misdemeanor offense or a second degree felony if the person was released for a state jail or second degree felony. The bill would also remove certain offenses related to violating a condition of bond for certain offenses against the family as the created offense would apply to those violations.
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.
In fiscal year 2022, there were 24,557 individuals placed on pretrial bond supervision for a felony offense and 16,240 individuals placed on pretrial bond supervision for a misdemeanor offense; however, these counts reflect only the number of individuals placed on pretrial bond supervision as a condition of bond within a jurisdiction in which pretrial bond supervision is operated by a community supervision and corrections department.
The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined because statewide data do not exist on the total number of individuals released on bond or who violate a condition of bond.