The bill would amend the Penal Code to enhance the penalties for certain state jail offenders.  Under the provisions of the bill, an individual convicted for a state jail felony who was previously convicted for a state jail felony and a felony other than a state jail felony would be punished for a third degree felony.  An individual convicted for a state jail felony who was previously convicted for two felonies other than a state jail felony would also be punished for a third degree felony.  The bill takes effect September 1, 2013 and applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this act.

In fiscal year 2012, a total of 22,932 offenders were admitted to state jails for state jail felonies.  A total of 6,666 of these offenders met the criteria for enhancement established by the bill.  The bill is expected to increase the length of incarceration for many of these prisoners.  To assess the impact on incarceration length, the actual release patterns for that same number of prisoners released in fiscal year 2012 who met the criteria established in the bill were compared to the expected release patterns for these prisoners if the bill were implemented.

The actual length of stay for 6,666 offenders released from state jail in fiscal year 2012 who met the criteria established in the bill was calculated.  For 6,358 of these prisoners, the bill's provisions would have set their release date after the date of their actual release in fiscal year 2012. It is assumed that the bill would only affect these prisoners. In this analysis each of the 6,358 prisoners were assigned a new release date based on the bill's provisions.  The new length of stay was calculated for each prisoner and compared against their actual length of stay. The new length of stay for these prisoners would be 23.3 months while the actual average length of stay for these prisoners released in fiscal year 2012 was 9.4 months. The bill's provisions would thereby increase the average length of stay by 13.9 months.

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.  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.