The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to add aggravated assault to the list of offenses with a three year statute of limitation. Under current law the statute of limitations for this offense is two years. Aggravated assault is punishable as a first or second degree felony, depending on the circumstances.

A first degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for life or 5 to 99 years and a second degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for 2 to 20 years. In addition to confinement certain felony level offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.

Increasing the statute of limitations is expected to result in greater demands on the correctional resources of the state due to additional people potentially placed under felony community supervision or admitted into state correctional institutions. In fiscal year 2014, 15,168 people were arrested, 2,187 were placed under felony community supervision, and 2,976 were admitted into state correctional institutions for the offense of aggravated assault under the existing statute of limitations. This analysis assumes the bill's provisions would not result in a significant impact on state correctional populations, programs, or workloads.