The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Penal Code to enhance the punishment for the offense of driving while intoxicated to a state jail felony if the person caused bodily injury to certain emergency personnel. Driving while intoxicated is currently punished at various misdemeanor and felony levels, depending on the circumstances of the offense. 

Enhancing the punishment for driving while intoxicated in the circumstances applicable to the bill is expected to result in greater demands on the correctional resources of the state due to additional persons potentially placed under felony community supervision or admitted into state correctional institutions. In fiscal year 2014, 81,069 people were arrested and 25,075 were placed on misdemeanor community supervision for existing misdemeanor driving while intoxicated offenses which could be subject to the bill's provisions. Statewide data are not available to indicate which of these offenses resulted in bodily injury to certain emergency personnel. However, this analysis assumes the bill's provisions would not result in a significant impact on state correctional populations, programs, or workloads.