Honorable Joan Huffman, Chair, Senate Committee on State Affairs
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB576 by Huffman (Relating to a reporting requirement for certain incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, family violence, or stalking at public institutions of higher education; creating a criminal offense.), As Introduced
The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would amend the Education Code as it relates to reporting a reporting requirement for certain incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, family violence, or stalking at public institutions of higher education. Under the provisions of the bill, knowingly making certain false reports with the intent to deceive would be punishable as a state jail felony or a felony of the third degree if previously convicted of this offense.
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.
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 longer terms of supervision in the community or longer terms of confinement in state correctional institutions. However, this analysis assumes the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would not result in a significant impact on the demand of state correctional resources.