TO:	Honorable Nicole Collier, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB9 by Klick (Relating to the criminal punishment and conditions of community supervision for the offense of obstructing a highway or other passageway; increasing a criminal penalty.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis.  The bill would amend various codes as they relate to the offense of obstructing a highway or passageway. Under the provisions of the bill, preventing the passage of certain emergency vehicles or obstructing access to certain health care facilities would be punishable as a state jail felony and the actor, if granted community supervision, would serve a minimum sentence in county jail.  Under existing statute, the offense is punishable as a Class B misdemeanor.

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, and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000. A Class B misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed 180 days and in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $2,000.

Enhancing the penalty for a criminal offense is expected to result in additional demands on the correctional resources of the counties or of the State due to an increase in individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to 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. From fiscal year 2018 to 2020, 1,623 people were arrested and 9,205 were placed on direct community supervision for the misdemeanor offense which, under the provisions of the bill, could be enhanced to a state jail felony.  Whether the bill would result in a significant population impact is indeterminate due to the lack of information on the number of cases in which the obstruction involved preventing the passage of certain emergency vehicles or obstructing access to certain health care facilities.