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 failure to report assault, neglect, or omission of care in certain group homes. Under the provisions of the bill, a person who has reasonable cause to believe a resident of a group home suffered bodily injury due to assault, neglect or omission in care and fails to report this to law enforcement or the Department of Family and Protective Services would commit a state jail felony. The actor can be prosecuted under this section, another law, or both.  Under existing statute, a person who observes the commission of a felony in which a reasonable person would believe serious bodily injury or death may have resulted and fails to report it to a peace officer or law enforcement agency, in certain circumstances, commits a Class A 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. In addition to confinement, most felonies can be subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000. 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.

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. From fiscal years 2018 through 2020, an average of fewer than ten people were arrested, placed onto community supervision, or admitted into a state correctional institution for failure to report a felony where serious bodily injury or death results 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.