Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE and LOCAL

REVISED FISCAL NOTE

(replaces Fiscal Note dated January 24, 1998)

TABOR Refund Impact

State General Fund Revenue and Expenditure Impact

Local Expenditure Impact

TITLE:            CONCERNING THE CRIME OF MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION IN CONNECTION THEREWITH.

Summary of Legislation

            This bill as amended by the Senate Judiciary Committee (Senate Journal, February 23, 1998, page 323) consolidates crimes involving the theft of a motor vehicle. It states that a person commits motor vehicle theft if the person knowingly obtains, possesses, or exercises control over the vehicle of another without authorization or by threat or deception or by any other fraudulent means.

            The amended bill increases the penalty for motor vehicle theft to a class 4 felony if the value of the vehicle is $2,000 or more but less than $15,000. If the value of the motor vehicle is $15,000 or more, the theft of such vehicle, or if the defendant has twice previously been convicted or adjudicated of charges, would be a class 3 felony. The theft of a vehicle under $2,000 would be a class 2 misdemeanor.

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

State Revenues

            Since the bill changes the penalty for motor vehicle theft, if the value of the vehicle is $2,000 or more but less than $15,000, from a class 2 misdemeanor to Felony class 4, fine revenue deposited in the State General Fund would be impacted. The penalty for either a misdemeanor or a felony carries a possible jail sentence and/or a fine. Because the court has the discretion of imposing a fine or a jail sentence or both, the impact to the General Fund cannot be accurately determined at this time. However, a misdemeanor 2 carries a penalty of 3 months to 12 months imprisonment and/or $250 to $1,000 fine. The penalty for Felony 4 is 2 years to 6 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $2,000 to $500,000. Data are not available to estimate the net impact to the General Fund, but the increase is expected to be greater than $10,000.

TABOR Refund Impact

            Section 20 of Article X of the Colorado Constitution, limits the maximum annual percentage increase in state fiscal year spending. Once total state revenue from all sources that are not specifically excluded from fiscal year spending exceeds these limits for the fiscal year, the state constitution requires that the excess shall be refunded in the next fiscal year unless voters approve a revenue change as an offset. Based on the current Legislative Council economic forecast, it is projected that the state will be in a TABOR refund position during each of the next five fiscal years. Any increase or decrease in state revenue from changes in fees, fines, licenses, or other revenue sources will affect the amount of the state revenue to be refunded.

State Expenditures

            Judicial Department: $45,836 and 0.8 FTE General Fund. The bill consolidates crimes involving the theft of a motor vehicle. It increases the penalty for theft of vehicles with values between $2,000 and $15,000 from class 2 misdemeanor to Felony 4. This change in the penalty will have the effect of moving most cases from county court to district court. Based on information from the Judicial Case Processing System, there are approximately 307 cases currently filed annually in county court. Approximately 80 percent of these cases would move to district court (307 times 80% = 246). The affect on the Judicial Department is as follows:

∙          County Court Decrease

            246 cases/2,659 county judge standard = (.09 FTE judge/magistrate)

∙          District Court Increase

            246 cases/703 district judge standard = .35 FTE judge/magistrate

∙          Net Increase     = .26 magistrate (plus .52 FTE division support)

            The following table shows the total cost to the Judicial Department.

            Public Defender: $38,410 and 0.8 FTE General Fund. It requires approximately 2.5 hours more in attorney time for cases filed as Felony 4 versus misdemeanor 2. The Public Defender has indicated that in FY 1996-97, 493 misdemeanor auto theft cases were handled by the office. Approximately 80 percent of these cases (493 times 80% = 395) would now be Felony 4 resulting in 988 additional hours in attorney time (395 times 2.5 hours). This equates to 0.57 FTE attorney based on the standard hours per year per attorney.

The following table shows the total impact to the Public Defender.

            Department of Corrections: $812,600 General Fund. The Department of Corrections’ data base was used to estimate the bed impact for the various provisions of the bill.

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. Construction costs are estimated to be $69,811 per bed and operating costs $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.

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; $3,576

            •   short-term disability costs; $57

            •   inflationary cost factors;

            •   leased space; and

            In summary, the total estimated expenditures for FY 1998-99 and FY 1999-00 are as follows:

Local Government Impact

            The bill increases to a class 4 felony the penalty for motor vehicle theft if the value of the vehicle is $2,000 or more but less than $15,000. Since the penalty for motor vehicle theft would change from a misdemeanor to a felony, it is likely that fewer convictions would result in a sentence to county jail. Rather, convicted felons would now be sentenced to the Department of Corrections. However, because it is up to the discretion of the court to impose a fine or a sentence to jail, it cannot be determined to what extent the county jails would be impacted.

Spending Authority

            The fiscal note would imply that the following departments would require an additional General Fund Appropriation in FY 1998-99 for implementation of the bill.

            Department of Corrections: FY 1998-99 -- $812,600 General Fund.

            In addition, 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 remaining appropriations to the Department of Corrections would be required:

            FY 1999-00    $1,134,449

            FY 2000-01    $1,020,262

            FY 2001-02    $ 839,865

            FY 2002-03    $ 881,899

            Judicial Department. FY 1998-99 -- $45,836 and 0.8 FTE General Fund.

            Public Defender. FY 1998-99 -- $38,410 and 0.8 FTE General Fund

Departments Contacted

Corrections     Judicial           Human Services         Public Safety  Public Defender