Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1363 by Johnson (Relating to the prosecution of and punishment for the offense of prostitution; creating a criminal offense.), As Passed 2nd House
The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend various codes as they relate to the prosecution and punishment for the offense of prostitution. The bill would separate the punishment for the seller from that for the buyer and reduce the punishment for the seller under certain circumstances. Under the provisions of the bill, punishment for the seller would be a class B, class A misdemeanor, or a state jail felony and would be based on the number of previous convictions. Under current law, prostitution is punishable at the misdemeanor and felony level with punishment based on the circumstances of the offense.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for 180 days to two years and an optional fine not to exceed $10,000. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in jail for a term not to exceed one year and an optional fine not to exceed $4,000.
Reducing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in decreased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the state due to shorter terms of supervision in the community or shorter terms of confinement state correctional institutions. The bill would have a positive population impact by decreasing the number of people under felony community supervision or incarcerated within state correctional institutions. Whether the bill would result in a significant reduction in correctional populations and demands on state correctional resources is indeterminate due to a lack of statewide data on the individual's role in the encounter, specifically which of these individuals served as the seller in the encounter and would therefore be eligible for the penalty reduction outlined in the bill's provisions. After removing those with 6 or more previous convictions whose punishment, under the provisions of the bill would remain unchanged, in fiscal year 2014, 160 were placed under felony community supervision and 367 were admitted into state correctional institutions and could be subject to the bill's reduction provisions.