TO:	Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:	John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB2482 by Pena (Relating to the prosecution of and punishment for certain offenses involving theft.), As Engrossed

The provisions of the bill that are the subject of this analysis would amend the Penal Code as it relates to the punishment for certain offenses involving theft. The bill would remove the minimum threshold value for a charge of organized retail theft of $1,500. Under the provisions of the bill, organized retail theft would be punishable as a Class B Misdemeanor if the value of the merchandise involved is less than $50; a Class A Misdemeanor if the value of the merchandise involved is $50 or more but less than $500; a state jail felony if the value of the merchandise involved is $500 or more but less than $1,500; a felony of the third degree if the value of the merchandise involved is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000;  a felony of the second degree if the value of the merchandise involved is $20,000 or more but less than $100,000; or a felony of the first degree if the value of the merchandise involved is $100,000 or more. Punishment for certain organized retail theft would be increased to the next higher category of offense for persons that organize, supervise, finance, or manage one or more other persons engaged in the activity. The bill would also amend the Penal Code by enhancing the punishment for organized retail theft and theft to the next highest category of offense if it is shown on the trial that the actor caused a fire exit alarm to sound or become activated, deactivated or prevented a fire exit alarm or retail theft detector from sounding, or used a shielding or deactivation instrument to prevent or attempt to prevent detection by a retail theft detector; the enhancement provisions would not apply to an offense punishable as a felony of the first degree. Under current statute, punishment for organized retail theft ranges from a state jail felony (value of merchandise is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000) to a first degree felony ($200,000 or more) and depends on the total value of the merchandise involved. Punishment for theft currently ranges from a Class C Misdemeanor (value of property stolen is less than $50 or $20 under certain conditions) to a second degree felony ($100,000 or more but less than $200,000); the offense is punishable as a first degree felony if the value of property stolen is $200,000 or more.
 
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000 or Class A Misdemeanor punishment (mandatory post conviction community supervision). 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. A felony of the second degree is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 20 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000. A felony of the first degree is punishable by confinement in prison for life or a term from 5 to 99 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 or 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 jail, state jail or prison.  The impact of the bill on correctional populations would depend on how many persons would be prosecuted under the provisions of the bill, and the extent to which punishment would be enhanced under the proposed statute compared to existing statute. For this analysis, it is assumed 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 under the provisions of this bill are currently being sentenced for other offenses.