Honorable Joan Huffman, Chair, Senate Committee on State Affairs
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB63 by Zaffirini (Relating to the electronic filing of reports of political contributions and expenditures and of personal financial statements by certain officeholders and candidates and the content of those statements; creating a criminal offense.), As Introduced
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 electronic filing of certain political and financial reports. Under the provisions of the bill, certain financial reports would require an accompanying affidavit when filed. These reports would be subject to prosecution for the felony offense of aggravated perjury in certain circumstances. Aggravated perjury is punishable as a third degree felony.
A third degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years, and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Expanding the types of behavior subject to criminal penalties is expected to result in increased demands on the correctional resources of the State due to a potential increase in the number of individuals sentenced to a term of supervision in the community or to a term of confinement within state correctional institutions. In fiscal year 2016, 40 individuals were arrested, 11 were placed under felony community supervision, and 10 were admitted into state correctional institutions for the offense of aggravated perjury. Statewide data do not exist to indicate the prevalence of behaviors subject to felony criminal penalties described in the bill. However, 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.