Texas 83rd Legislative Update: HB 1440
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/
House Bill 1440 is attempting to amend the current state Penal Code to increase penalties for repeating felony offenders. A felony offender convicted for a state jail felony who has previously been convicted of any other felony would be punished for a third degree felony. The bill has been enacted, and will take effect on September 1st of 2013. This will apply only to offenses committed on or after this date. There is no projected impact on local government.
However, this bill is expected to cost the state of Texas an estimated 167,269,959 dollars through the year 2015. This bill will increase the average amount of jail time for an offending inmate by about 13.9 months.