House debate: bill would add option of religious program or psychotherapy to community restitution, sponsor says

Representative Martinez told the House that a bill amending community restitution options was changed to clarify that attending religious services or psychotherapy may be an option for someone ordered to perform community restitution and is not a replacement for jail time or mandatory penalties. "We are not reducing any sort of jail time or any sort of fees, that's not at all what this is doing," Martinez said.

Martinez explained that the bill adds religious services and psychotherapy as choices when a judge imposes community restitution (for example, in lieu of supervised service such as graffiti removal) but emphasized that the additions do not allow someone to substitute attendance for an assigned jail sentence when the court has imposed one. "We needed to make sure that that it was not instead of," Martinez said, giving the example of a DUI with a mandatory sentence where attendance at a religious program could not be used "instead of jail time." Representative Martinez credited Representative Gress with catching a Senate drafting issue and said the House amendment clarified the scope.

Other members spoke in support: Representative Carter said she voted for the measure in committee and described it as a faith-based alternative among other options, while another member described the change as giving judges more discretion in felony phases. The transcript records the sponsor's concurrence with Senate amendments; the excerpt does not include a final roll-call on passage.

Discussion vs. decision: the transcript shows floor explanation and sponsor concurrence with Senate amendments. The sponsor and colleagues repeatedly distinguished between options within community restitution and mandatory criminal penalties; the record does not show a final vote in the provided excerpt.