Honorable Abel Herrero, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB266 by Miles (Relating to enhancing the penalty prescribed for certain acts of official oppression.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to enhancing the penalty prescribed for certain acts of official oppression. Under the provisions of the bill, the punishment for official oppression would be enhanced from a Class A misdemeanor to a third-degree felony when the actor was a licensed police officer who knowingly caused bodily injury to another person.
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 third-degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term of two to ten years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
The bill's provisions increase the penalty for certain official oppression offenses. Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to increase demands on state and/or county correctional agency resources due to longer terms of community supervision, county jail confinement, state correctional institution confinement, and/or parole. When an offense changes from a misdemeanor to a felony, the burden of confining convicted offenders transfers from the counties to the state. However, in the case of the bill, it is assumed that the number of offenders supervised or incarcerated under this statute would not significantly impact state correctional agencies' workload and programs. In fiscal year 2012, there were 39 arrests and 17 community supervision placements for official oppression.