Honorable Bryan Hughes, Chair, Senate Committee on State Affairs
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB2880 by Hughes (Relating to abortion, including civil liability for distribution of abortion-inducing drugs, and to the destruction of certain property; making conforming changes and harmonizing conforming provisions; creating criminal offenses; authorizing a private civil right of action.), As Introduced
Creating new offenses and expanding conduct constituting an existing offense may result in an increase in demands upon state and local correctional resources due to possible increases in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement. The fiscal implications of the bill cannot be determined due to a lack of data to estimate the prevalence of conduct outlined in the bill's provisions that would be subject to criminal penalties and due to the extent to which state revenue would be impacted by changes in civil actions or criminal offenses being unknown.
Among other provisions, the bill would establish certain prohibitions related to abortion-inducting drugs and would limit the enforcement of those prohibitions to a qui tam or private civil action. The bill would also create criminal offenses related to paying or reimbursing elective abortion costs and destroying evidence of certain elective abortions with penalties ranging from a first degree felony to a second degree felony.
The bill would grant the Attorney General concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute any criminal abortion law and authorize the Attorney General to authorize a district attorney to investigate or prosecute a violation of an abortion law if a local district attorney fails or refuses to investigate or prosecute the violation. The bill would also grant the Attorney General parens patriae standing to bring an action concerning this jurisdiction on behalf of unborn children of residents of this state and would authorize the Attorney General to bring an action for damages or injunctive relief on behalf of an unborn child of a resident of this state against a person who violates any criminal abortion law of this state, with certain exceptions.
According to the Office of the Attorney General, there would be no significant fiscal impact on the agency as a result of the bill.
According to the Office of Court Administration, the agency is unable to project the bill's fiscal impact.
According to the Comptroller of Public Accounts, the extent to which state revenue would be impacted by changes in either civil actions or criminal offenses cannot be estimated.
Local Government Impact
While the fiscal impact cannot be determined, creating new offenses and expanding conduct constituting an existing offense may may result in increased demands upon local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or subjected to local confinement.
Source Agencies:
212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 302 Office of the Attorney General, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts