The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend various codes as they relate to protective orders. Under the provisions of the bill, violation of a protective order issued as outlined in the bill would be enhanced to a state jail felony. Under current statute, violation of a state attorney filed protective order following the offender's conviction of or placement on deferred adjudication community supervision is punishable as a state jail felony in certain circumstances.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $10,000 or Class A misdemeanor punishment. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year and, in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $4,000.
Expanding the circumstances for which a criminal penalty is applied is expected to result in additional demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to an increase in the number of individuals placed onto supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement within state correctional institutions. From fiscal years 2018 through 2020, average of fewer than ten people were arrested, placed onto felony direct community supervision, or admitted into a state correctional institution for the state jail felony offense modified by the bill under existing statute. This analysis assumes the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would not result in a significant impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources.