Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1824 by Burton (Relating to punishment for the offense of forgery and to a fee imposed on certain defendants who commit the offense.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to the punishment for the offense of forgery and to a fee imposed on certain defendants who commit the offense. Under the provisions of the bill, forgery would be modified to include a value ladder. The punishment for certain kinds of forgery conducted to obtain or attempt to obtain a property or service would range from a misdemeanor to a felony with the punishment level increasing in severity based on the pecuniary value of the property or service obtained through forgery.
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.
Expanding the list of behaviors for which a criminal penalty is applied is expected to result in increased demands on the correctional resources of the counties or of the State 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. 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.