Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE

FISCAL NOTE

General Fund Expenditure Impact


Drafting Number:

Prime Sponsor(s):

LLS 98-223

Rep. Epps

Date:

Bill Status:

Fiscal Analyst:

January 2, 1998

House Judiciary

Susan Colling (866-4784)

 

TITLE:            CONCERNING INCREASED PENALTY FOR POSSESSION OF A WEAPON BY A FELON, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION THEREFOR.



Summary of Legislation


            This bill increases the penalty for possession of a weapon by a convicted from a class 1 misdemeanor to a class 6 felony. The bill also makes a 5-year statutory appropriation.


            The bill would take effect July 1, 1998 and would apply to offenses committed on or after that date.


            The bill is assessed as having a fiscal impact on state expenditures. By increasing the penalty for possession of a weapon by a convicted felon from a class 1 misdemeanor to a class 6 felony, there will be an impact on new admissions to the Department of Corrections.


STATE FISCAL IMPACT SUMMARY

FY 1998/99

FY 1999/2000

State Revenues

General Fund

Other Fund



 



 

State Expenditures

General Fund

Other Fund


$132,641


$44,369

FTE Position Change

None

None

Local Government Impact — None



State Expenditures


            Department of Corrections. The bill would impact General Fund expenditures since conviction of the proposed offense would result in a possible sentence to prison. A person convicted of a class 6 felony could be sentenced to the Department of Corrections (DOC) for a minimum of one year and a maximum of eighteen months.


            Based on the District Attorney’s (DA) database in FY 1996-97, there were nine misdemeanor convictions for the crime of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. Of those nine convictions, two were sentenced to the county jail and one was ordered to provide useful public service. There were no final dispositions recorded in the database for the remaining six misdemeanor convictions. Further, in FY 1995-96, the DA’s database shows no record of convictions for this crime as a misdemeanor.


             Past data show that offenders convicted of a class 6 felony generally do not receive sentences to prison. Data indicate that in FY 1995-96, only 22.7 percent of offenders convicted of a class 6 felony were sentenced to prison. This fiscal note assumes that the likelihood of an offender being sentenced to prison for this offense in FY 1996-97 would be the same for FY 1998-99 (sentences to the DOC are unknown for FY 1997-98). Based on the three misdemeanor convictions that received actual sentences in FY 1996-97, this fiscal note assumes that sentences to the DOC will occur at the same rate, therefore beginning in FY 1998-99, .74 offenders (3 x 22.7%) will be sentenced to the DOC each year. For the other six offenders that show a conviction for this misdemeanor offense, it is assumed that only 20.0 percent would be sentenced to the DOC, resulting in 1.2 new offenders.



            Therefore, the impact of increasing the penalty for possession of a weapons by a felon from a class 1 msidemeanor to a class 6 felony will be 1.94 additional admissions to the DOC each year, starting in FY 1999-00.

  

            The average sentence length for a new class 6 admission is 18.6 months and the average length of stay is 11.9 months. Therefore, based on the average length of stay of one year, the overall impact to the DOC will be 1.9 new offenders each year. The expenditure impact to the DOC is provided in the following table.



Five-Year Fiscal Impact on Correctional Facilities


            Pursuant to Section 2-2-703, C.R.S, which requires that bills which would result in a net increase in periods of imprisonment not be passed without five years of appropriations for prison bed construction and operating costs, the following analysis is provided. Projected construction costs for FY 1999-00 are estimated to be $69,811 per bed and operating costs would be $23,352 per bed. It should be noted that the construction costs reflect the funding needed to construct the beds in the fiscal year prior to when the additional offenders would enter the system. Because this assessment is based on Average Daily Attendance (ADA), only a portion of construction and operating costs would be needed each year.




FIVE-YEAR FISCAL IMPACT ON CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES

Fiscal Year

ADA Impact

Construction Cost

Operating Cost

Total Cost

FY 98-99

0.00

$132,641

$0

$132,641

FY 99-00

1.9

 0

44,369

44,369

FY 00-01

1.9

 

44,369

44,369

FY 01-02

1.9

 

44,369

44,369

FY 02-03

1.9

 

44,369

44,369

Total

---

$132,641

$177,476

$310,117


            Judicial Department. Under current law, convicted felons charged with possession of a weapon are filed in County Court. By increasing the penalty to a class 6 felony, these cases would now be filed in District Court. Due to the small numbers of offenders actually charged and convicted of this offense, the impact to the Judicial Department would be minimal and could be absorbed within exisitng resources. Thus, there is no additional impact to the Judicial Department.



Expenditures Not Included


            Pursuant to the Joint Budget Committee’s budget policies, the following expenditures have not been included in this fiscal note:

 

               health and life insurance costs;

               short-term disability costs;

               inflationary cost factors;

               leased space; and

               indirect costs.


Spending Authority


            This fiscal note indicates that the Department of Corrections will require an additional General Fund appropriation of $132,641 for FY 1998-99, and a five-year appropriation (pursuant to Section 2-2-703, C.R.S) of $177,476.



Departments Contacted


            Department of Corrections

            Judicial

            Office of Legislative Council

            Public Defender

FACTS AND ASSUMPTIONS



Facts

 

1.         Projected costs of construction for a medium security bed at the Department of Corrections for FY 1999-00 is $69,811 and the average operating cost per year per bed is $23,352.


Assumptions

 

1.         Based on data from the District Attorney’s database in FY 1996-97, it is assumed that sentences to prison for class 6 felony offenders will remain stable, between 20.0 percent and 22.7 percent.

 

2.         It is assumed that each year 1.9 offenders convicted of a class 6 felony for possesession of a weapon by a convicted felon will be sentenced to the Department of Corrections over the next five years.

 

3.         It is assumed that offenders convicted of a class 6 felony and sentenced to the DOC will have an average length of stay of 11.9 months.