The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend various codes as they relate to restrictions on the age of persons employed by or allowed on the premises of a sexually oriented business. Under the provisions of the bill, the circumstances for the offense of employment harmful to children would be expanded to include a person younger than 21 years of age. Under existing statute, child means a person younger than 18 years of age and employment harmful to children is punishable as a first or second degree felony based on the specific circumstances of the offense.
A first degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for life or a term from 5 to 99 years and a second degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 20 years. In addition to confinement, most felonies can be subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Expanding the circumstances for a felony offense 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, an average of fewer than ten people were arrested, placed onto felony direct community supervision, or admitted into a state correctional institution for employment harmful to children under existing statute. 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.