Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3498 by Aliseda (Relating to the penalty for illegal voting.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Elections Code as it relates to illegal voting. Under the provisions of the bill, illegal voting would be second degree felony and attempting to vote illegally would be a state jail felony. At present illegal voting is a third degree felony and attempting to vote illegally is a Class A Misdemeanor.
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 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.
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 of convicted offenders from the counties to the State. In fiscal year 2010, less than five offenders were admitted to prison and less than five offenders were released from prison for illegal voting. In fiscal year 2010, less than five people were under parole supervision for illegal voting. In fiscal year 2010, five offenders were placed on community supervision and less than five offenders were released from community supervision for illegal voting or attempting to vote illegally. 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.