TO:	Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB55 by Johnson, Julie (Relating to the punishment for the criminal offense of indecent assault; increasing a criminal penalty.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted

The bill would increase the penalty for the offense of indecent assault from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony if the defendant has been previously convicted of indecent assault or is a health care services or mental health services provider and the act is committed during the course of providing a treatment or service that is beyond the scope of generally accepted practices. The penalty would be increased to a third degree felony if the defendant has been previously convicted of such indecent assault conduct as a health care services or mental health services provider.

Increasing the penalty for an existing offense may result in additional demands upon state and local correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals placed under supervision in the community or sentenced to a term of confinement.

In fiscal year 2022, there were 537 individuals arrested, 130 individuals placed on community supervision, and no individuals admitted into a state correctional institution for indecent assault.

It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.