Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1178 by Kuempel (Relating to the punishment for burglary and theft of controlled substances.), As Introduced
The provisions of the bill that are the subject of this analysis would amend the Penal Code as it relates to certain burglary and theft offenses. Under the provisions of the bill, certain burglary offenses would be enhanced from a state jail felony to a third degree felony. The bill would also make theft of a controlled substance a third degree felony.
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, all felony level offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Increasing the penalty for any offense is expected to result in increased demands upon correctional resources of the state due to longer terms of supervision in the community or longer terms of confinement in state correctional institutions. The bill may have a negative fiscal impact by increasing the number of people on felony community supervision, incarcerated within state correctional institutions, or placed under parole supervision. Whether the bill would result in a significant fiscal impact is indeterminate due to lack of statewide data related to the type of building burglarized. A statewide repository containing the level of detail necessary to isolate those individuals arrested, placed under felony community supervision, or incarcerated for burglary of a building under the circumstances in which the offense would be enhanced is also not available. In fiscal year 2016, 4,596 people were arrested, 851 were placed under felony community supervision, and 1,354 were admitted to state correctional institutions for burglary of a building. The bill would also make theft of any amount of a controlled substance punishable as a third degree felony. The probable impact of implementing the bill's provisions which amend this section of the Penal Code cannot be determined due to the unavailability of data related to theft of a controlled substance. The punishment enhancements could significantly expand the number of individuals subject to prosecution under the offense of theft. This expansion could result in a significant impact on state correctional agencies, though the impact cannot be determined.