LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
Austin, Texas
 
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT STATEMENT
 
80TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION
 
May 23, 2007

TO:
Honorable David Dewhurst , Lieutenant Governor, Senate
Honorable Tom Craddick, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
 
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
 
IN RE:
SB103 by Hinojosa (Relating to the Texas Youth Commission and the prosecution of certain offenses and delinquent conduct in the Texas Youth Commission and certain other criminal justice agencies; providing penalties.), Conference Committee Report

The bill would amend the Family Code by prohibiting juvenile courts from committing youth to the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) for a misdemeanor crime, or for violation of misdemeanor probation, and requires youth committed to TYC for a misdemeanor prior to the enactment of the bill to be released not later than their 19th birthday.    

 

For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that of the offenders removed from TYC, according to the provisions of the bill, only sentenced offenders and certain violent offenders would be transferred from TYC to TDCJ facilities, or to TDCJ parole supervision.  Assuming that sentencing patterns and release policies not addressed in this bill remain constant, the probable impact of implementing the provisions of the bill during each of the first five years following passage, in terms of daily demand upon the Texas Youth Commission and adult corrections agencies, is estimated as follows: 




Fiscal Year Decrease In Demand For TYC Residential Capacity Decrease In Demand for TYC Parole Supervision Population Increase In Demand For TDCJ Prison Capacity Increase In TDCJ Parole Supervision Population
2008 692 958 319 1,117
2009 1,035 1,091 400 1,293
2010 1,142 1,249 352 1,331
2011 1,171 1,312 337 1,304
2012 1,176 1,331 351 1,281

The bill would also amend the Penal Code by making the offense of engaging in sexual conduct with a TYC youth punishable as a felony of the second degree.  For this analysis it is assumed that the number of offenders convicted under this provision of the bill would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.



Source Agencies:
LBB Staff:
JOB, GG