Honorable Pete Gallego, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1813 by Vo (Relating to the punishment for tampering with certain governmental records concerning forensic analyses.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Penal Code by making tampering with certain governmental records concerning forensic analyses punishable as a felony of the third degree.
The range of punishment for the offense of tampering with governmental records ranges from a Class B misdemeanor to a felony of the second degree depending on the type of record involved and the actor’s intent to defraud or harm another person.
A felony of the third degree is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than 10 years or less than 2 years, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
Expanding the list of offenses for which a penalty is applied 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. However, in the case of this bill, it is assumed that the number of offenders convicted under this statute would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.