Honorable Richard Pena Raymond, Chair, House Committee on Human Services
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1615 by Brown (Relating to the administering of medications to children in certain facilities; providing criminal penalties.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Human Resources Code by adding a section relating to the administering of medications to children in certain facilities. The provisions of the bill that create new punishment or enhance existing punishment for criminal offenses are the subject of this analysis. Under the provisions of the bill, administering medication to a child in violation of the provisions of the bill would be punishable as a Class A Misdemeanor with punishment enhanced to that of a third degree felony if the child suffers serious bodily injury or death as a result of receiving the medication.
A Class A Misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year and/or a fine not to exceed $4,000. A felony of the third degree is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
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 and 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. It is expected that individuals who would be affected by the provision of this bill are currently being sentenced for other offenses.