TO:	Honorable Brian Birdwell, Chair, Senate Committee on Border Security
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	SB600 by Birdwell (Relating to increasing the minimum term of imprisonment for certain criminal offenses involving the smuggling of persons.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted

The bill would establish a 10 year term of imprisonment for the third degree felony offense of smuggling of persons and would increase the minimum term of imprisonment to 10 years for the second and first degree felony offenses of smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons.

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 6,616 individuals arrested, 202 individuals placed on community supervision, and 142 individuals admitted into a state correctional institution for offenses of smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons. 

The average length of stay for an individual released from community supervision in fiscal year 2022 for the offenses of smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons was approximately 3.9 years. Under current law, the minimum period of community supervision for a felony case is the same as the minimum term of imprisonment applicable to the offense; therefore, it is assumed that increasing the minimum term for individuals sentenced to community supervision for these offenses would not result in a significant impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources.

The average length of stay for an individual released from prison in fiscal year 2022 for the offenses of smuggling of persons and continuous smuggling of persons was approximately 1.0 year. The estimated impact on adult correctional populations would follow both the fiscal year 2022 observed rate of admission to prison and the average time between offense and admission to prison for these smuggling offenses. In addition, the length of stay for this estimate is based on the minimum term of imprisonment of ten years outlined in the bill's provisions. The impact on state correctional populations and the demand for state correctional resources is assumed to be significant due to the increased terms of confinement and the subsequent compounding increase in demand for prison bed capacity.