Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1727 by Schwertner (Relating to the continuation and functions of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and the functions of the office of independent ombudsman for the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would require the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) to refer an individual in its custody to juvenile court for transfer to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for certain felony offenses if the individual is at least 16 years of age and not yet 19 years of age, was at least 16 years of age at the time the offense occurred, is serving a determinate sentence, and has not yet completed the sentence.
It is unknown how many offenses were committed in fiscal year 2022 during an individual's commitment to TJJD.
While it is assumed that any impact on adult state correctional populations or on the demand for adult state correctional resources would not be significant, the impact on juvenile state correctional populations or on the demand for juvenile state correctional resources cannot be determined due to the lack of data necessary to identify the prevalence of conduct that would qualify for an increased penalty under the bill.