TO:	Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:	John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB710 by Nelson (Relating to the punishment for the offense of employment harmful to children. ), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

The bill would amend the Penal Code to make the offense of employment harmful to children punishable as a felony of the third degree if the defendant has a prior conviction for the offense.  The offense is currently punishable as a Class A misdemeanor.  

A Class A Misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in a county jail for any term of not more than one year, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $4,000.

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.

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.  When an offense is changed from a misdemeanor to a felony, there is a transfer of the burden of confinement and/or supervision of convicted offenders from the counties to the State.  In fiscal year 2008 there were less than 10 offenders placed on misdemeanor community supervision for employment harmful to children; therefore, it is assumed the number of persons convicted under this statute would not result in a significant impact on programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.