Honorable Drew Darby, Chair, House Committee on Energy Resources
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3707 by Craddick (relating to the inspection, purchase, sale, possession, storage, transportation, and disposal of petroleum products, oil and gas equipment, and oil and gas waste; creating criminal offenses and increasing the punishment for an existing criminal offense.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would increase the penalty to the next highest category for the felony offense of theft of petroleum product and would expand the conduct constituting the offense to include the transport of petroleum to certain locations, and certain unauthorized petroleum sales, purchases, storage, or trade. The offense would be amended to include unlawful appropriation of oil and gas equipment with intent to deprive the owner by possessing, removing, delivering, receiving, purchasing, selling, moving, concealing, or transporting the equipment, with penalties ranging from third to first degree felony depending on the total value of equipment appropriated. The bill would create the felony offense of use of a disposal well for the disposal of oil and gas waste without certain prior permission and would make the behavior punishable along a range from a third to a first degree felony depending on the total value of the oil.
Expanding the conduct constituting and increasing the penalty for an existing offense, and creating a new 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 2024, there were 62 arrests, no referrals, 6 placements onto adult community supervision, 2 individuals admitted to an adult state correctional facility, and no individuals admitted to a juvenile state correctional facility for the offense of theft of petroleum product.
It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.