The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Penal Code to define eight-liners and add them to the list of gambling devices.  Under the provisions of the bill the offenses of gambling promotion, keeping a gambling place, and possession of gambling equipment would be punished as a state jail felony, a third degree felony, or a second degree felony, depending upon the circumstances, if they involved eight-liners. Under current law all of these offenses are punished as a class A misdemeanor.

A second degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for 2 to 20 years, a third degree felony for 2 to 10 years, and a state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for 180 days to 2 years. In addition to confinement all felony level offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.   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.

Expanding the punishment range for an existing offense is expected to increase demands on state and/or county correctional agency resources due to more people under community supervision and in state correctional institutions.  In fiscal year 2014, 154 people were arrested and 47 were placed under misdemeanor community supervision for the offense of gambling promotion.  In fiscal year 2014, 114 people were arrested and 29 were placed under misdemeanor community supervision for the offense of keeping a gambling place. In fiscal year 2014, 207 people were arrested and 48 were placed under misdemeanor community supervision for the offense of possession of gambling equipment. This analysis assumes the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions for criminal offenses would not result in a significant impact on state correctional populations, programs, or workloads.