Honorable Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor, Senate
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1300 by Flores (Relating to the prosecution and punishment of the criminal offense of organized retail theft; increasing criminal penalties.), As Passed 2nd House
The bill would expand conduct constituting the offense of organized retail theft to include when the defendant acts in concert with another or others, obtains a benefit from another's commission of the offense, overwhelms the security response of a merchant or peace officer to facilitate commission of the offense or to avoid detection or apprehension, or steals money or other property belonging to the merchant. The bill would revise penalties for organized retail theft by removing the Class C misdemeanor penalty and raising all other penalties to the next higher category.
Expanding conduct constituting and modifying the penalty for an existing offense may result in an increase in 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 2024, there were 211 arrests, 23 referrals, 64 placements onto adult community supervision, no admissions into an adult state correctional institution, and no admissions into a juvenile state correctional institution for the offense of organized retail theft.
It is assumed that any impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources would not be significant.