The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to the punishment for the offense of burglary of a vehicle and to grants of community supervision to persons who commit that offense. Under the provisions of the bill, the punishment for burglary of a motor vehicle would be aligned to the amount of pecuniary loss to tangible personal property. Punishments would range from a Class B misdemeanor to a first degree felony depending on the amount of loss. Under current statute, burglary of a motor vehicle is punished as a Class A misdemeanor or a state jail felony depending on the circumstances of the offense, but is not aligned to amounts of pecuniary loss to tangible personal property.
A first-degree felony 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. A second-degree felony 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. A third-degree felony 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 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 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 Class B misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed 180 days and/or a fine not to exceed $2,000.
The bill's provisions increase the criminal penalty for certain vehicle burglaries from a misdemeanor to a felony and the provisions increase the felony level of punishment for certain vehicle burglaries resulting in a higher level of pecuniary loss. Increasing a criminal penalty is expected to increase demands upon county and/or state correctional resources due to longer terms of community supervision or longer terms of confinement in county jail, state jail, or prison. Also when an offense changes from a misdemeanor to a felony, the burden of confining convicted offenders transfers from the counties to the state. The bill may have a negative fiscal impact by increasing the number of people on felony community supervision or incarcerated within state correctional institutions for burglary of a vehicle. Whether the bill would result in a significant amount of cost to the state is indeterminate due to a lack of statewide data on the exact amount of pecuniary loss to tangible personal property resulting from burglary of a vehicle. At present, data do not exist that would enable the determination of the amount of loss in these cases. In fiscal year 2012, there were 3,668 felony and 48,930 misdemeanor arrests; 63 felony and 1,365 misdemeanor placements on community supervision; and 265 admissions to state correctional facilities for burglaries of a vehicle. At present data do not exist that would enable the identification of those cases in which the amount of pecuniary loss would change the punishment level.