Honorable Joe Moody, Chair, House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2700 by Guillen (Relating to prosecution of certain criminal offenses prohibiting sexually explicit visual material involving children.), As Introduced
The bill would clarify the conduct constituting certain criminal offenses prohibiting sexually explicit visual material involving children to include a depiction of a child who is recognizable by certain features as an actual person and whose image as a child younger than 18 years of age was used in creating, adapting, or modifying the visual material.
Clarifying the conduct constituting 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 597 individuals arrested, 141 individuals placed on adult community supervision, 56 individuals placed on juvenile community supervision, 209 individuals admitted into an adult state correctional institution, and 1 individual admitted into a juvenile state correctional institution for the felony offenses of possession or promotion of child pornography and possession or promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child.
While clarifying the conduct that constitutes these offenses may result in additional prosecutions, it is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.