Honorable Aaron Pena, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1611 by Madden ( Relating to the punishment for the offense of forgery of a writing that is or purports to be a check.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to forgery of a writing that is or purports to be a check by decreasing or increasing punishment, ranging from a Class C misdemeanor to a felony of the first degree, depending upon the face value of the forged check, and the number of previous convictions for the offense. Forgery of a writing that is or purports to be a check is punishable as a state jail felony.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
Decreasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in decreased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to shorter terms of probation, or, shorter terms of confinement in county jails or prison. Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to longer terms of probation, or, longer terms of confinement in county jails or prison. In fiscal year 2006, 2,181 offenders were admitted to state jail for forgery with an average sentence length of 346 days, and 2,241 offenders were released from state jail for forgery. In fiscal year 2005, 2,975 offenders were placed on felony community supervision for state jail felony forgery. The probable impact of implementing the provision of this bill cannot be determined due to the unavailability of reliable data or information related to the circumstances involved in forgery and the number of times the item forged was a check or the face value of the forged check.