TO:	Honorable Jodie Laubenberg, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:	Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB1666 by Huffman (Relating to the conduct of primary elections and certain other election practices; increasing a criminal penalty; creating criminal offenses.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted

The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. Under the provisions of the bill, the punishment for unlawful participation in party affairs would be increased from a Class C misdemeanor to a second degree felony or a state jail felony, depending upon the specific circumstances of the offense. The bill would also create the offense of engaging in organized election fraud which would be punishable at one level higher than the most serious underlying offense committed or conspired to commit, unless the individual meets the standard to show the individual took certain actions to withdraw from the harvesting organization and prevent the underlying offense, in which case the offense would be punishable at its statutory level.

A first degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for life or a term from 5 to 99 years; 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 for any criminal offense and creating a new criminal offense are expected to result in increased demands on the correctional resources of the counties or of the State due to longer terms of supervision in the community or longer terms of confinement within state correctional institutions and due to a potential increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement within state correctional institutions.  In fiscal year 2016, 24 individuals were arrested, fewer than 10 were placed under community supervision, and fewer than 10 were admitted into state correctional institutions for offenses under the applicable titles of the Election Code. 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.