Honorable Jodie Laubenberg, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB184 by Goldman (Relating to the prevention of fraud in the conduct of an election; creating a criminal offense; increasing criminal penalties.), As Introduced
The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions for criminal offenses are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Election Code as it relates to unlawful conduct in relation to elections. Under the provisions of the bill, certain election offenses would be expanded or their penalties increased depending upon the circumstances of the offense. The bill would also create the offense of election fraud and the punishment would be based on the specific circumstances of the offense. The criminal penalties associated with existing election offenses are punishable as felonies and range from a state jail to a second degree felony. Under the provisions of the bill, the punishment for certain election offenses would be increased to the next higher offense category depending upon the specific circumstances of the offense.
A second degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 20 years; a third degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years; and a state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years or Class A misdemeanor punishment. In addition to confinement, most felony offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Increasing the penalty or expanding the list of behaviors for which a criminal penalty is applied is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to a potential increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement within a state correctional institution. In fiscal year 2016, fewer than 10 individuals were arrested, fewer than 10 were placed under felony community supervision, and fewer than 10 were admitted into state correctional institutions for election code violations addressed by the bill's provisions. This analysis assumes the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would not result in a significant impact on the demand for state correctional resources.