The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis.  The bill would amend the Penal Code to increase the punishment for certain assault offenses if the offense is committed against a federal law enforcement officer.  Under the provisions of the bill, the punishment for the offense of assault causes bodily injury would be increased from a Class A misdemeanor to a third degree felony, and the punishment for the offense of aggravated assault would be increased from a second degree felony to a first degree felony if the offense was committed against a federal law enforcement officer.
 
A first degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for five to 99 years or life, a second degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for two to 20 years, and a third degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for two to 10 years.  In addition to confinement, certain felony offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000. A Class A Misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year and, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $4,000. Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of the state due to longer terms of supervision in the community or longer terms of confinement in state correctional institutions. The bill may have a negative population impact by increasing the number of people on felony community supervision or incarcerated within state correctional institutions. Whether the bill would result in a significant increase in correctional populations cannot be determined due to the lack of data or information related to the number of people prosecuted for assaulting federal law enforcement officers which would therefore make certain offenses eligible for the penalty enhancements outlined in the bill's provisions. In fiscal year 2018, 28,723 people were arrested, 2,804 were placed under misdemeanor supervision, 2,212 were placed under felony supervision, and 2,743 were admitted into state correctional institutions for assault related offenses. Data do not exist that would allow for those cases in which the victim of the offenses outlined in the bill's provisions was a federal law enforcement officer to be identified from all other cases.