Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB939 by Lucio (Relating to creating an offense for engaging in certain conduct relating to cockfighting and to the criminal and civil consequences of committing that offense.), As Introduced
The provision of the bill that is the subject of this analysis would amend the Penal Code by creating the offense of cockfighting. The offense would be punishable as a state jail felony, a Class A misdemeanor, or a Class C misdemeanor depending on provisions specified by the bill. The bill would also add cockfighting to the list of offenses considered engaging in organized criminal activity. Engaging in organized criminal activity is punishable at various felony levels and is based on the level of the offense the person committed or conspired to commit.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000. 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. 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 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. 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.