Bill

HB 2632

84(R) - 2015
House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues

Vote Recommendation

Yes
  • Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Neutral
  • Positive

Author(s)

Harold Dutton Jr.

Co-Author(s)

Dan Huberty
Ron Reynolds
James White
Gene Wu

Bill Caption

Relating to removing a criminal penalty and authorizing a civil penalty for truancy.

Fiscal Notes

This bill would have a positive impact of $4,407,776 through the biennium ending Augst 31, 2017.


Local Government Impact

County and municipal governments will see reduced revenue from the local portion of courts costs collected for the repealed Class C misdemeanor offense, as well as a reduction in fines collected. Assuming 93,786 failure to attend cases in which court costs are assessed and a collection rate of 50%, there would be a decrease of $770,772 in revenue to local governments per year. Additionally, there may be an indeterminate loss in fine revenue to local governments. The bill would also repeal the current $30 fee is collected and retained by local governments to defray the cost of expunctions. Travis, Midland, and El Paso Counties indicated they may have to add or reassign staff to expunge the records as required by the bill and to meet other requirements of the bill. The impact may be significant but cannot be determined at this time and would vary by jurisdiction.

Bill Analysis

HB 2632 would amend the statutes to reflect an automatic expunction of truancy records. This bill would remove language referring to truancy as an offense and would now consider it a civil penalty not to exceed $100.

Vote Recommendation Notes

HB 2632 is an effective and cost efficient way to deal with truancy. We support HB 2632 as preserving the individual liberty of students within Texas.