TO:	Honorable Jerry Madden, Chair, House Committee on Corrections
FROM:	John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB1477 by Allen (Relating to awarding credit to certain inmates for time between release on and revocation of parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional pardon.), As Introduced

General Revenue-Related Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Year	Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2012	$5,440,781
2013	$6,118,313
2014	$6,793,875
2015	$7,415,888
2016	$8,044,144

All Funds, Five-Year Impact:

Fiscal Analysis

The bill would amend the Government Code as it relates to awarding good time to certain inmates for time between release on and revocation of parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional pardon. Under the provisions of the bill, certain offenders whose parole was revoked for technical violations of parole after spending at least one year on parole would receive credit for the time spent on parole prior to revocation.
 
The bill would take effect on September 1, 2011 and apply only to the calculation of the remaining sentence for an inmate whose release on parole, mandatory supervision, or conditional pardon is revoked on or after the effective date of this Act.

The Board of Pardons and Paroles does not anticipate a significant fiscal impact as a result of complying with the provisions of the bill.

Methodology

Awarding credit for time served while on parole prior to revocation is expected to result in decreased demands upon the correctional resources of the State due to shorter terms of confinement in prison.  In fiscal year 2010, 6,678 offenders had their parole revoked and 1,062 of those were revoked for technical violations of parole supervision. After removing from that group those ineligible for release to mandatory supervision and those who received their warrant or summons within a year of release, 852 of those offenders would be subject to the provisions of the bill. Of the 852 offenders subject to the provisions of the bill, 249 offenders would have completed their sentence if they received credit for time served while on parole prior to revocation leaving 603 offenders returning to prison to serve shorter terms of incarceration (approximately 3.67 years).

In order to estimate the future impact, the proposed conditions of the bill are applied in a simulation model to a prison population that reflects the distribution of offenses, sentence lengths, and time served. Savings of incarceration by the Department of Criminal Justice are estimated on the basis of $45.00 per inmate per day for prison facilities, reflecting approximate costs of either operating facilities or contracting with other entities.

Local Government Impact

No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.