Texas Punishment Standards Commission

The Texas Punishment Standards Commission was established by House Bill 92, 72nd Legislature, Second Called Session, 1991 (Article 37.15, Code of Criminal Procedure) to rewrite the Texas Penal Code. The Commission was a 25 member study group, 10 of whom were appointed by Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock and House Speaker Gib Lewis, while the remaining 15 were appointed at large by Governor Ann Richards. Texas State Senator Ted Lyon and State Representative Allen Hightower were appointed the Co-Chairs of the Commission, and Carl Reynolds was brought on as the staff director. The Commission's first meeting was held on December 10, 1991.

By statute, the commission was to study the punishments prescribed for criminal offenses in Texas, sentencing practices in criminal courts, costs relating to prison construction, and the effect of jail and prison overcrowding and lenient parole laws on the sentences actually served by defendants convicted of criminal offenses. After completing the study, the commission was to propose legislation and make recommendations on criminal sentencing, corrections, and the budgetary resources committed to those issues.

In order to accomplish its work, the Commission initially divided itself into four subcommittees, namely Policy Development, to identify and analyze policy issues for the whole Commission to resolve; Current Sentencing Practices, to study the procedural details of the sentencing system; Correctional Resources, concerned with the cost of programs and punishment options and the general effectiveness of programs; and Code Revision, to weed the Penal Code and modify the Controlled Substances Act. Shortly later, three task-oriented subcommittees were added: Multiple Offenses, Criminal History, and Ranking Offenses. Prosecutors, law enforcement officials, and probation and parole officers were invited to participate on the latter three committees in order to provide additional input.

As the subcommittees worked, Commission staff held outreach hearings across Texas to gather public testimony and opinion, as well as to educate the public about the criminal justice system. The Commission also formed a group of judges into the Judicial Advisory Committee to present testimony in reaction to subcommittee work presented to the Commission as a whole. Finally, the Governor's Prosecutorial Advisory Committee was enlisted to provide their expertise. To build across-the-board policy consensus within the Commission, the entire Commission and those who worked with it came together and held a Summit meeting August 13-15, 1992.

The Commission's final report was made to the 73rd Legislature on January 8, 1993. The recommendations targeted sentencing law changes, Penal Code revision, resources for facilities and programs, and, generally, focused on creating a more honest system with more serious treatment of violent offenders and more community correction emphasis for non-violent offenders.

The specific legislation proposed by the commission took the form of House Bills 1234 and 1235 (filed by Representatives Hightower and Place) and Senate Bills 532 and 1067 (filed by Senator Whitmire). Senate Bill 532 focused on state jail implementation and Senate Bill 1067 focused on Penal Code rewrite and sentencing provisions; both bills drew upon the work of the Commission but left out numerous recommendations and altered others. The House bills more closely reflected the work of the Commission, but were redrafted to resemble the Senate versions. The House versions were substituted for the Senate versions after the Senate bills came over to the House. On the floor of the House, the bills caused lengthy debate and almost 60 amendments were added to the Penal Code bill alone. A three-day conference committee was needed to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bills. Finally, the two Senate bills were passed and signed into law by Governor Ann Richards. The Commission expired by its own terms on September 1, 1994.