Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1833 by Shaheen (Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of criminal mischief involving a critical infrastructure facility or public power supply.), Committee Report 2nd House, Substituted
The bill would increase the penalty for the offense of criminal mischief from a state jail felony to a third degree felony in cases of certain conduct involving a critical infrastructure facility or public power supply when the amount of pecuniary damage is less than $30,000. The bill would increase the penalty for the offense of criminal mischief to a first or second degree felony in cases of certain conduct involving a critical infrastructure facility depending on the nature of the conduct and the amount of pecuniary damage.
Increasing the penalty for an existing offense may result in additional demands upon state correctional resources due to a possible increase in the number of individuals confined and in the length of stay for individuals sentenced to a term of confinement.
In fiscal year 2022, there were 77 individuals arrested, 7 individuals placed on adult community supervision, no individuals placed on juvenile community supervision, and 3 individuals admitted into an adult state correctional institution for the state jail felony offense of the criminal mischief involving certain public services or utilities with a pecuniary loss of less than $30,000; however, the number of cases related to a public power supply is unknown. In fiscal year 2022, there were 4 individuals admitted into a juvenile state correctional institution for felony offenses of criminal mischief; however, the specific circumstances of the criminal mischief are unknown. The number of cases in fiscal year 2022 of criminal mischief related to a critical infrastructure facility is unknown.
While the impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to the lack of data necessary to identify the prevalence of conduct that would constitute an offense under the bill, it is assumed that any impact would not be significant.