Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE and LOCAL

FISCAL NOTE

TABOR Refund Impact

State General Fund Revenue and Expenditure Impact

Local Revenue and Expenditure Impact

TITLE:            CONCERNING CERTAIN EXISTING CRIMINAL OFFENSES.

Summary of Legislation

            This bill would make several changes to criminal laws as described below:

Section 1:        Clarifies that to enhance the penalty for menacing by the use of a deadly weapon the mere lawful possession of a weapon may not be used as an aggravating factor.

Section 2:        Changes the penalties for contributing to the delinquency of a minor to:

                        ∙          a class 6 felony if the violation by the minor is a felony;

                        ∙          the same level of offense or penalty as the violation if the violation by the minor is a misdemeanor; and

                        ∙          a class 1 petty offense if the violation by the minor is a petty offense.

Section 3:        Requires a defendant to be “substantially” supported or maintained with money earned through prostitution to commit the crime of pimping.

Section 4:        Repeals the duty to report crimes.

Section 5

and 6:              Changes the penalty, from a class 4 felony to a class 6 felony, for introducing alcohol, a controlled substance, or marihuana into a detention facility, or for making such substances in the facility.

Section 7:        Requires the threat of economic reprisal to be “unlawful” economic reprisal when committing the crime of attempting to influence a public servant.

Section 8:        Changes the number of persons from 3 to 12 required to constitute a “riot”.

Section 9:        For the crime of endangering public transportation, requires that the defendant intended to commit a felony.

Section 10:      Repeals the crime of bringing alcoholic beverages, bottles, or cans into the major league baseball stadium.

Section 11:      Prohibits local governments from enacting measures that restrict the affirmative defenses to the crime of unlawful possession of a weapon.

Section 12:      Reduces the crime of criminal libel from a class 6 felony to a class 1 misdemeanor and provides that in all cases truth is an affirmative defense to a charge of criminal libel.

            The bill would be effective September 1, 1998; except that, if a referendum petition is filed against this act or an item, section, or part of this act within the ninety-day period after adjournment sine die of the General Assembly that is allowed for submitting a referendum petition pursuant to Article V, Section 1 (3) of the State Constitution, then the act, item section, or part, if approved by the people, would take effect February 1, 1999. The bill would apply to offenses committed after the applicable effective date.

State Revenues

            The bill would have a fiscal impact on General Fund revenue and Fines Collection Cash Fund. Section 2 makes it a class 1 petty offense if contributing to the delinquency of a minor is a violation that constitutes a petty offense. Fines collected from petty offenses are deposited in the General Fund. Section 2 and Section 12 affect misdemeanor offenses that could result in the collection of fines. Section 2 makes the class of a misdemeanor the same as the violation when contributing to the delinquency of a minor and would carry a possible fine to be deposited in the Fines Collection Cash fund. Section 12 of the bill makes the crime of criminal libel a class 1 misdemeanor, which carries a possible fine between $500 and $5,000. A person convicted of misdemeanor may also be sentenced to a term of imprisonment in the county jail. Because the court has the discretion of imposing a fine, a jail sentence or both, the impact to the Fines Collection cash fund cannot be determined.

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

            Several sections of the bill would have a fiscal impact to the state General Fund, those sections are described below.

            Section 2. This section changes the penalty for contributing to the delinquency of a minor from a class 4 felony to a class 6 felony in cases where the delinquency act is a felony and a misdemeanor in all other cases. In FY 1997, there were eleven admissions to the Department of Corrections (DOC) for a class 4 felony of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Review of these files indicated that four cases involved a misdemeanor and seven cases involved a felony. Therefore, it is estimated that four cases would be convicted of a misdemeanor instead of a felony and seven would be convicted of a class 6 felony instead of a class 4 felony. The average sentence length of these offenders was 48.5 months with an estimated length of stay of 27.7 months (or 57.1 percent of sentence). The projected length of stay for a class 6 felony is 11.9 months, therefore, the seven offenders sentenced to prison would serve less than those currently sentenced as a class 4 felony. Based on Average Daily Attendance (ADA), this results in a savings of 18.45 beds.

            Section 5 and 6. These sections move introducing alcohol, a controlled substance or marihuana from the definition of introducing contraband in the first degree to introducing contraband in the second degree. Changing the definition then changes the penalty from a class 4 felony to a class 6 felony. Data from the DOC indicate that in FY 1997, there were five admissions with introducing contraband in the first degree as the most serious conviction. Files indicate that controlled substances or marihuana were involved in all five cases. Four offenders were convicted of a class 4 felony and had an average sentence length of 46.5 months with a projected length of stay of 26.6 months. One offender was convicted of attempt, a class 5 felony, with a sentence length of 18 months and a projected length of stay of 10.3 months.

            The bill would convict these offenders of a class 6 felony with a projected length of stay of 11.9 months, resulting in a bed savings of 4.9 beds.

            Additionally, in FY 1997 there were nine offenders sentenced for introducing contraband in the first degree who had a more serious conviction. Two of these nine offenders received a consecutive sentence, which increased their sentence and length of stay. The sentences imposed in these two cases averaged 27 months, to be served consecutively with an average nine year sentence, for a total of 135 month average sentence length. The average length of stay would have been 77.1 months. Under this proposed legislation, these two cases involved controlled substances and would be convicted as a class 6 felony. Therefore, since the bill would make it a class 6 felony, the new projected length of stay would be 73.6 months and would have minimal bed impact.

            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.

Local Government Impact

            The bill would have a fiscal impact on local government expenditures. Section 2 changes the penalty for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Instead of receiving a felony conviction, offenders would now be convicted of a misdemeanor for these crimes. Additionally, Section 12 reduces the penalty for the crime of criminal libel from a class 6 felony to a misdemeanor. Since these offenses would now be misdemeanors, offenders may be subject to possible sentences to the county jail. Misdemeanor convictions may also carry a fine, in addition to or in lieu of a jail sentence. 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

            This fiscal note indicates that no additional spending authority or appropriation is required for FY 1998-99.

Departments Contacted

            Department of Corrections

            Department of Human Services

            Judicial

            Legislative Council

            State Public Defender