Capitol Roundup
AUTO BURGLARY
Police chiefs
push for action
Police chiefs from the state's largest cities joined House lawmakers
at the Capitol on Thursday to urge senators to approve a bill that has been languishing in committee.
The bill, sponsored by Reps. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, and Aaron Peņa,
D-Edinburg, would increase the penalty for car burglary from a misdemeanor to a felony.
It was approved by the House on March 30 with a vote of 102-43. The bill
was sent to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, where it's been ever since.
Since 1999, the number of car burglaries statewide has grown from about
200,000 to more than 270,000 a year. The police chiefs said the growth is attributable to the rather minor penalty for the
crime.
Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who leads the Criminal Justice Committee,
didn't seem willing to give on the bill, which he says will only further crowd Texas' prisons.
"They need to quit whining and go home and go to work," Whitmire said
of the police chiefs.
