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 penalty for certain offenses against property or against public administration. Under the provisions of the bill, the pecuniary loss amounts aligned with certain penalty ranges would be increased. The bill would also expand the penalty range for fraudulent transfer of a motor vehicle to include additional felony punishments. Under current law, offenses against property or against public administration are punished at various misdemeanor and felony levels depending on the circumstances of the offense, with the penalty increasing in severity based on the specific amount of pecuniary loss.

Increasing the amount of pecuniary loss aligned with certain penalty ranges is expected to result in decreased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the state due to shorter terms of probation or shorter terms of confinement in state correctional institutions. The bill may have a positive fiscal impact by decreasing the number of people on 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 exact amount of pecuniary loss for those convicted of certain offenses against property or against public administration.

Expanding the punishment range for fraudulent transfer of a motor vehicle to include additional felony punishment levels is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the state due to longer terms of probation or longer terms of confinement in state correctional institutions. This analysis assumes this provision of the bill would not significantly impact state correctional populations, programs, or workloads.