Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB467 by Bettencourt (Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of criminal mischief involving impairment of a motor fuel pump.), As Introduced
The bill would make the criminal penalty for criminal mischief in which the actor causes wholly or partly impairment or disruption to a retail motor fuel pump, regardless of the amount of pecuniary loss, a third degree felony.
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, 11,389 individuals were arrested, 1,203 individuals were placed on adult community supervision, 819 individuals were placed on juvenile probation supervision, 133 individuals were admitted into an adult state correctional institution, and 4 individuals were admitted into a juvenile state correctional facility for a criminal mischief offense. It is unknown whether these cases involved a retail motor fuel pump.
The impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources cannot be determined due to the lack of statewide data necessary to identify cases of criminal mischief involving a retail motor fuel pump.