The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to burglary of a commercial building. Under the provisions of the bill, a person would commit a third degree felony for burglary if the building the person burgled was a commercial building in which trade or commerce is conducted. Under current statute, burglary of a building is punishable at multiple felony levels with the punishment level based on the specific circumstances of the offense.

A third degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.

Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in additional 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. The bill may have a negative population impact by increasing the amount of time people remain under felony community supervision or incarcerated within state correctional institutions. Whether the bill would result in a significant population impact is indeterminate due the lack of data that would allow for the identification of the type of building burgled. The number of people whose burglary of a building offense involved burglary of a commercial building in which trade or commerce is conducted cannot be distinguished from all other burglary of a building cases due to lack of information on the specific building type. In fiscal year 2018, 4,714 people were arrested, 1,120 placed under felony community supervision and 1,256 were admitted into to state correctional institutions for burglary offenses similar to that outlined in the bill.