BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 1902

By: Cook

Criminal Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

According to the Texas Department of Banking,  jugging is a crime that involves stealing money from a person who has just withdrawn cash from an ATM or bank by following the victim to a new location and robbing them. The bill author has informed the committee that law enforcement stakeholders contend that, rather than a crime of opportunity like burglary of a vehicle or robbery, jugging is a form of organized crime that involves sophisticated surveillance tactics and resources and usually follows a similar fact pattern. Furthermore, the bill author has informed the committee that instances of jugging have occurred statewide in cities such as Arlington, Austin, Beaumont, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, McKinney, and San Antonio. C.S.H.B. 1902 seeks to address this issue by creating the state jail felony offense of jugging.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill expressly does one or more of the following: creates a criminal offense, increases the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or changes 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

C.S.H.B. 1902 amends the Penal Code to create the state jail felony offense of jugging for a person who, with the intent to commit theft of another person's money, knowingly travels from a commercial business or financial institution, as defined by applicable Finance Code provisions, on the same path or route as another person without substantially deviating from that path or route and is in possession of two or more criminal instruments, as defined by Penal Code provisions relating to the offense of unlawful use of a criminal instrument or a mechanical security device. The bill enhances the penalty for the offense to the following:

·a third degree felony if the actor commits burglary of a vehicle during the commission of the offense; and

·a first degree felony if the actor commits robbery during the commission of the offense.

If conduct constituting the offense also constitutes another Penal Code offense, the actor may be prosecuted for either offense or both offenses.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 1902 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The introduced and the substitute both create the state jail felony offense of jugging for a person who engages in certain conduct with the intent to commit theft of another person's money, but the versions differ with respect to the conduct that constitutes the offense. Whereas the introduced created the offense for a person who targets or observes the other person withdrawing money from an automated teller machine, bank, credit union, or credit services organization and subsequently physically follows or causes any person to physically follow the other person, the substitute creates the offense for a person who knowingly travels from a commercial business or financial institution on the same path or route as another person without substantially deviating from that path or route and is in possession of two or more criminal instruments. Accordingly, the substitutes omits the introduced version's definition of "credit services organization."

While both the introduced and the substitute enhance the penalty for the offense to a first degree felony if the actor commits robbery during the commission of the offense, the introduced also enhanced the penalty for the offense to a first degree felony if the actor commits aggravated robbery during the commission of the offense, whereas the substitute does not.

The substitute includes a provision absent from the introduced establishing that if conduct constituting the offense also constitutes another Penal Code offense, the actor may be prosecuted for either offense or both offenses.