Honorable Pete Flores, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1936 by Hinojosa, Juan "Chuy" (Relating to the definition of an abuse unit for certain controlled substances under the Texas Controlled Substances Act.), As Introduced
The bill would redefine an abuse unit for certain controlled substances in a paper form to be 10 milligrams of paper calculated by rounding the weight down to the nearest whole number, instead of being defined by area of paper, provided that the paper is not marked or perforated into individual abuse units.
Changing the definition of a unit for an existing offense may result in changes in demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible change in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2024, there were 308 arrests, 26 referrals, 40 placements onto adult community supervision, 21 individuals admitted into an adult state correctional institution, and no individuals admitted into a juvenile state correctional institution for certain offenses related to the manufacture, delivery, or possession of controlled substances in penalty group 1-A.
It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.