BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 2341 By: Allen Corrections Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Thousands of people are sentenced to state jail facilities in Texas every year. For example, about 6,000 people were sent to a state jail in the 2022 fiscal year, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's (TDCJ) Statistical Report for that year, and many of the offenders in state jails are often convicted of nonviolent property and drug offenses, such as possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance. According to a 2019 article published on the comptroller of public accounts website, the legislature created state jails to establish a less restrictive and more cost-effective setting than TDCJ prisons that place an emphasis on treatment, rehabilitation, and successful re-entry into society. Unfortunately, according to Texas 2036, recidivism rates are very high for state jails: 60.1 percent of state jail inmates will be rearrested within three years of being released, and 20.5 percent will be reincarcerated. This high recidivism rate could be attributed to the fact that inmates in state jails are not eligible for parole, and this lack of a parole incentive can reduce inmates' motivation to engage in the rehabilitative services that are available to them. In 2011, the legislature attempted to remedy this issue by creating a diligent participation time credit program for those who engage in rehabilitative programming and remain free of disciplinary infractions in state jails. However, the bill author has informed the committee that judges often do not grant diligent participation credit, largely because they have no way of knowing whether the individual is engaged in programming. TDCJ is statutorily required to monitor and record program participation of those sentenced to state jail, but TDCJ has no explicit authority to grant the diligent participation credit. H.B. 2341 seeks to promote rehabilitation, make state jails safer, and lower recidivism by making the diligent participation credit mandatory for those in state jails who engage in an educational, vocational, treatment, or work program. CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS H.B. 2341 repeals the Code of Criminal Procedure provision that requires a judge to make and enter a finding in the judgment of a case regarding whether a person convicted of a state jail felony is presumptively entitled to diligent participation credit for purposes of being awarded the credit and amends that code to change from a discretionary award of the credit to a mandatory award for time served by a defendant in a state jail felony facility while diligently participating in an educational, vocational, treatment, or work program. H.B. 2341 applies only to a person confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. A person confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense committed before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For these purposes, an offense was committed before the bill's effective date if any element of the offense occurred before that date. H.B. 2341 repeals Articles 42.0199 and 42A.559(g), Code of Criminal Procedure. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2025.
BILL ANALYSIS
# BILL ANALYSIS
H.B. 2341
By: Allen
Corrections
Committee Report (Unamended)
H.B. 2341
By: Allen
Corrections
Committee Report (Unamended)
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Thousands of people are sentenced to state jail facilities in Texas every year. For example, about 6,000 people were sent to a state jail in the 2022 fiscal year, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's (TDCJ) Statistical Report for that year, and many of the offenders in state jails are often convicted of nonviolent property and drug offenses, such as possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance. According to a 2019 article published on the comptroller of public accounts website, the legislature created state jails to establish a less restrictive and more cost-effective setting than TDCJ prisons that place an emphasis on treatment, rehabilitation, and successful re-entry into society. Unfortunately, according to Texas 2036, recidivism rates are very high for state jails: 60.1 percent of state jail inmates will be rearrested within three years of being released, and 20.5 percent will be reincarcerated. This high recidivism rate could be attributed to the fact that inmates in state jails are not eligible for parole, and this lack of a parole incentive can reduce inmates' motivation to engage in the rehabilitative services that are available to them. In 2011, the legislature attempted to remedy this issue by creating a diligent participation time credit program for those who engage in rehabilitative programming and remain free of disciplinary infractions in state jails. However, the bill author has informed the committee that judges often do not grant diligent participation credit, largely because they have no way of knowing whether the individual is engaged in programming. TDCJ is statutorily required to monitor and record program participation of those sentenced to state jail, but TDCJ has no explicit authority to grant the diligent participation credit. H.B. 2341 seeks to promote rehabilitation, make state jails safer, and lower recidivism by making the diligent participation credit mandatory for those in state jails who engage in an educational, vocational, treatment, or work program.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS H.B. 2341 repeals the Code of Criminal Procedure provision that requires a judge to make and enter a finding in the judgment of a case regarding whether a person convicted of a state jail felony is presumptively entitled to diligent participation credit for purposes of being awarded the credit and amends that code to change from a discretionary award of the credit to a mandatory award for time served by a defendant in a state jail felony facility while diligently participating in an educational, vocational, treatment, or work program. H.B. 2341 applies only to a person confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. A person confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense committed before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For these purposes, an offense was committed before the bill's effective date if any element of the offense occurred before that date. H.B. 2341 repeals Articles 42.0199 and 42A.559(g), Code of Criminal Procedure.
EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2025.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Thousands of people are sentenced to state jail facilities in Texas every year. For example, about 6,000 people were sent to a state jail in the 2022 fiscal year, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's (TDCJ) Statistical Report for that year, and many of the offenders in state jails are often convicted of nonviolent property and drug offenses, such as possession of less than a gram of a controlled substance. According to a 2019 article published on the comptroller of public accounts website, the legislature created state jails to establish a less restrictive and more cost-effective setting than TDCJ prisons that place an emphasis on treatment, rehabilitation, and successful re-entry into society. Unfortunately, according to Texas 2036, recidivism rates are very high for state jails: 60.1 percent of state jail inmates will be rearrested within three years of being released, and 20.5 percent will be reincarcerated. This high recidivism rate could be attributed to the fact that inmates in state jails are not eligible for parole, and this lack of a parole incentive can reduce inmates' motivation to engage in the rehabilitative services that are available to them. In 2011, the legislature attempted to remedy this issue by creating a diligent participation time credit program for those who engage in rehabilitative programming and remain free of disciplinary infractions in state jails. However, the bill author has informed the committee that judges often do not grant diligent participation credit, largely because they have no way of knowing whether the individual is engaged in programming. TDCJ is statutorily required to monitor and record program participation of those sentenced to state jail, but TDCJ has no explicit authority to grant the diligent participation credit. H.B. 2341 seeks to promote rehabilitation, make state jails safer, and lower recidivism by making the diligent participation credit mandatory for those in state jails who engage in an educational, vocational, treatment, or work program.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
H.B. 2341 repeals the Code of Criminal Procedure provision that requires a judge to make and enter a finding in the judgment of a case regarding whether a person convicted of a state jail felony is presumptively entitled to diligent participation credit for purposes of being awarded the credit and amends that code to change from a discretionary award of the credit to a mandatory award for time served by a defendant in a state jail felony facility while diligently participating in an educational, vocational, treatment, or work program.
H.B. 2341 applies only to a person confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense committed on or after the bill's effective date. A person confined in a state jail felony facility for an offense committed before the bill's effective date is governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For these purposes, an offense was committed before the bill's effective date if any element of the offense occurred before that date.
H.B. 2341 repeals Articles 42.0199 and 42A.559(g), Code of Criminal Procedure.
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2025.