TO:	Honorable Briscoe Cain, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB7 by Hughes (relating to election integrity and security, including by preventing fraud in the conduct of elections in this state; increasing criminal penalties; creating criminal offenses.), Committee Report 2nd 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 election integrity and the prevention of fraud in the conduct of an election.  Under the provisions of the bill, several new election fraud-related criminal offenses are created punishable at the felony and misdemeanor level with the level and degree based on the specific circumstances of the offense. 

Creating an offense 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 under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement within state correctional institutions.  In fiscal years 2018 through 2020 there were a total of 45 arrests for the election-related offenses, fewer than ten in each fiscal year placed onto community supervision, and fewer than ten in each fiscal year admitted into a state correctional institution for election-related offenses. This analysis assumes implementing 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.