Senate concurs with House on retail‑theft sentencing thresholds; life prison and largest fines removed

The Senate voted to concur with House amendments to Senate Bill 1,300, a measure addressing organized retail theft, adopting an amended penalty scale negotiated in the House.

Senator Roland Flores, who presented the motion on the floor, summarized the House amendment that removed more severe sentencing options in the bill sent to the House. The House eliminated a prior proposal that would have allowed a life sentence and a mandatory minimum 15‑year term for very large‑scale retail theft and removed a proposed $250,000 fine for extreme cases. Under the amended language the Senate accepted, organized retail theft in excess of $150,000 will be treated as a first‑degree felony.

“The bill now provides that any retail theft in excess of a hundred and 50,000 will be first degree felony,” Senator Flores said when moving concurrence.

The Senate adopted the House amendments by roll call, 29 ayes and 2 nays. The change narrows the punishment range compared with earlier proposals while elevating very large thefts into the state’s first‑degree felony tier. The transcript does not detail subsequent sentencing ranges or how prosecutors will implement threshold charging decisions beyond the statutory classification.