Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE

FISCAL NOTE

General Fund Expenditure Impact

TITLE:            CONCERNING REINFORCEMENT OF THE CRIMINAL PROHIBITION AGAINST ASSISTING SUICIDE.

Summary of Legislation

            This bill would amend the existing manslaughter statute that criminalizes the causing or aiding of another person to commit suicide. Persons under the provisions of this bill would be committing the crime of manslaughter if they were to abet, facilitate, solicit or incite another person to commit suicide. Additionally, the bill changes the mens rea standard and specifies that it would not be manslaughter for a health care professional to provide treatment or medication to ease the pain of a dying patient.

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

            The bill would change an element in the definition of manslaughter and specifies the exemption of health care professionals. The bill would strengthen current law of manslaughter by prohibiting a person from assisting another person to commit suicide. Further, under current Colorado law, health care providers who intentionally provide treatment or medication to ease the pain of a dying patient could potentially be convicted of manslaughter. The bill modifies the law to allow health care providers to administer treatment or medication to a dying patient with the intention of easing the patient’s pain even though such action may forseeably hasten the moment of death. There is no evidence of a person having been charged with manslaughter when assisting another to commit suicide since current law does not cover abetting, facilitating, solicitating or inciting another person to commit suicide. By adding this section the likelihood of future prosecutions when a person assists another to commit suicide would increase, therefore the bill is assessed as having a fiscal impact on the state.

State Expenditures

            The bill would impact the General Fund expenditures since conviction of the proposed offense would result in a possible sentence to prison. A person convicted of a class 4 felony could be sentenced to the Department of Corrections for a minimum of two years and a maximum period of incarceration of six years. Additionally, there is a mandatory three year period of parole for offenders sentenced to the DOC.

            It is assumed that by strengthening the crime of manslaughter, 1.0 additional offender would be received at the DOC for assisting suicide every 5 years as a class 4 felony offender. The sentence length is estimated to be 55.8 months and the length of stay is projected at 28.6 months. This is based on the average sentence and projected length of stay for all class 4 nonviolent offenders. 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.

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

            The fiscal note indicates that for FY 1998-99, the Department of Corrections should be appropriated $13,962 General Fund, as well as the outstanding five-year appropriation (pursuant to Section 2-2-703, C.R.S.) of $55,588.

Departments Contacted

            Department of Corrections

            Department of Public Safety

            Judicial

            Public Defender’s Office

FACTS AND ASSUMPTIONS

Assumptions

1.         It is assumed that by modifying the crime of manslaughter that 1.0 additional offender every five years will be sentenced to the Department of Corrections as a class 4 felony offender. The average sentence length is projected to be 55.8 months and the average length of stay is projected to be 28.6 months.