The bill would amend the Penal Code to make failure to appear in accordance with the terms of release from custody, with or without bail, punishable as a felony of the first degree if the offense for which the person is to appear is murder or capital murder. The provisions of the bill that create new punishment or enhance existing punishment for criminal offenses are the subject of this analysis. Under current statute, the punishment for failure to appear in accordance with the terms of release from custody is a third degree felony if the offense for which the person was conditionally released is a felony.

A felony of the third degree is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than 10 years or less than 2 years, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000. A felony of the first degree is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 5 years, or, in addition to confinement, a 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.  For this analysis, is assumed the number of persons affected by the provisions of the bill would not result in a significant impact on programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.