Honorable John Carona, Chair, Senate Committee on Business & Commerce
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1034 by Carona (Relating to the unauthorized use of an alcoholic beverage permit or license; providing a criminal penalty.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Alcoholic Beverage Code as it relates to the unauthorized use of an alcoholic beverage permit or license as well as associated criminal penalties. The bill's provisions provide a state jail felony penalty for an individual who allows the unauthorized use of his/her permit or license.
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).
The bill's provisions increase the penalty for some offenses related to permitting an unauthorized individual to use permits. The provisions also provide a penalty for permitting an unauthorized individual to use licenses. These penalty adjustments are expected to increase demands on state correctional resources by increasing the number of offenders eligible for confinement in state correctional facilities. When an offense changes from a misdemeanor to a felony, the burden of confining convicted offenders transfers from the counties to the state. However, it is assumed that the number of offenders supervised or incarcerated under this statute would not significantly impact state correctional agency resources. In fiscal year 2012, there were less than ten misdemeanor arrests for permitting unauthorized individuals to use permits, which would now become state jail felonies. There were also less than ten community supervision placements and state incarcerations for this offense. A similar number of arrests, community supervision placements, and state incarcerations are expected to result from the licensing offense.