Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1024 by Rodriguez (Relating to the prosecution of the offense of theft of service.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Penal Code by providing conditions that must be met for the offense of theft of services regarding the failure to make full payment after receiving notice demanding payment for the service rendered. The offense of theft of service is currently punishable at various levels, misdemeanor and felony, with the level of punishment increasing in severity based on the dollar amount of the service stolen. The bill would take effect on September 1, 2011 and apply to offenses committed on or after that date.
Expanding the list of behaviors 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 jail, state jail or prison. However, for this analysis, it is assumed implementing the provisions of the bill would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources of those agencies.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.