BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 4878

By: Olcott

State Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee that there is no lack of discussion on the impact that illegal immigration has had on the State of Texas. In 2024, an open records request revealed that out of 9,527 inmates in the Harris County Jail, 1,170 had U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds. The bill author has further informed the committee that this is just one jail in our state and that accurate data on the number, cost, and impact of incarcerated illegal immigrants in jails and prisons is not readily available to the legislature. H.B. 4878 seeks to address this issue by requiring the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to annually prepare and provide a report to the legislature, lieutenant governor, and governor that includes the number of illegal criminal aliens confined in TDCJ facilities or county jails, as applicable, and that includes the overall impact on the facilities and estimated cost to the taxpayer to confine those incarcerated persons.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change 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. 4878 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), not later than January 31 of each year, to prepare and submit to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and each member of the legislature a written report on the confinement, during the preceding year, of illegal criminal aliens in facilities operated by or under contract with TDCJ, which must include the following:

· the number of illegal criminal aliens confined and the total cost to confine those aliens;

· the percentage of each facility's capacity that is occupied by illegal criminal aliens;

· the estimated cost to confine all illegal criminal aliens for the remainder of each alien's sentence; and

· other information regarding the total impact of illegal criminal aliens on each facility.

The bill establishes that TDCJ is not required to submit the initial report required by these provisions until January 31, 2027.

H.B. 4878, with respect to the requirement for each county to submit to the Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) on or before the fifth day of each month a report containing the number of prisoners confined in the county jail on the first day of the month, classified on the basis of certain categories, includes among those categories prisoners who are not a citizen or national of the U.S. or an alien who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act or authorized to be employed by that act or the U.S. attorney general. The bill requires each county to include the following information relating to such prisoners in the report:

· the total cost to the county during the preceding month and the estimated cost to the county for the current month of housing those prisoners calculated based on the average daily cost of housing a prisoner in the county jail; and

· the total impact of those prisoners among the required information to be submitted in that report.

The bill requires TCJS, not later than January 31 of each year, to aggregate the information submitted to TCJS under the bill and to submit to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and each member of the legislature a report for the preceding year on that aggregated information. The bill establishes that TCJS is not required to submit the initial report required by these provisions until January 31, 2027.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.