Honorable Chris Harris, Chair, Senate Committee on Jurisprudence
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1551 by Rodriguez (relating to missing children; providing a criminal penalty.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code related to missing children. The bill would expand the definition of missing child, expand the offense to include taking a child outside of the country with the intent of preventing access to the child to a person entitled to possession or access to the child, and provide an affirmative defense to prosecution under the added offense. Under the provisions of the bill taking or retaining a child younger than 18 years of age outside the United States with the intent to deprive a person entitled to possession of or access to the child without permission would be a state jail felony.
The bill would take effect on September 1, 2011 and apply to offenses committed on or after that date.
For this analysis, 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.
Local Government Impact
The bill is not expected to have a significant fiscal impact on local government agencies.