Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB2238 by Garcia (Relating to the creation of the offense of sexual coercion.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to the offense of sexual coercion. Under the provisions of the bill, the offense of sexual coercion would be punishable by a state jail felony or a third degree felony depending on the circumstances of the 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, most felony offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Creating a new offense for which a criminal penalty is applied is expected to result in an increase in the demand for 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. 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.