Honorable Dan Huberty, Chair, House Committee on Public Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3769 by King, Ken (Relating to improper relationships between educators and students; creating a criminal offense and expanding the applicability of an existing offense.), As Introduced
The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would amend the Penal and Education Codes as they relate to improper relationships between educators and students. Under the provisions of the bill, the offense of improper relationship between educator and student, punishable as a second degree felony, would be expanded to include certain students and employees. The bill would make failure to file a report about certain misconduct or a criminal record of an educator by certain persons under certain circumstances a new criminal offense. The offense would be punishable as a Class A Misdemeanor or a state jail felony depending on the specific circumstances of the offense.
A second degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 20 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.
Expanding the list of behaviors for which a criminal penalty is applied and creating a new criminal offense are 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 sentenced to a term of supervision in the community or a term of confinement in state correctional institutions. In fiscal year 2016, 68 individuals were arrested, 30 were placed under felony community supervision, and 11 were admitted into state correctional institutions for the offense of improper relationship between educator and student. 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.