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Committee concurs with House bill increasing penalties for certain internet crimes against children; fiscal note anticipates limited incarceration costs
Summary
House Bill 82, targeting internet crimes against children and creating a grooming offense, was heard and later concurred in by the Senate Finance and Claims Committee. The fiscal note estimates a small number of additional convictions and associated Department of Corrections costs for contract placement.
The Senate Finance and Claims Committee heard House Bill 82, an Internet‑Crimes‑Against‑Children measure sponsored in the House by Representative Cathy Love, and took executive action to concur with the House version.
Representative Cathy Love opened by saying the fiscal note assumes convictions will lead to incarceration and supervision costs, and that the Department of Corrections (DOC) used a contract facility rate of $92 per day to estimate per‑person costs. DOJ and DOC witnesses described the fiscal assumptions: Alan Doane of the Department of Justice noted the Department of Corrections estimated three additional incarcerations per year attributable to the statute; DOC’s fiscal witness, Natalie Smithham, confirmed the department lacks long historical data for these new offense categories and therefore used the best available assumptions to construct the fiscal note.
The fiscal note in testimony showed an estimated per‑person annual cost of about $33,580 (using $92 per day at a contract facility) and applied a 1.5% inflation factor for later years. Department of Justice budget staff and the public defender’s office said they do not expect large added costs for their offices; county attorneys and law‑enforcement groups supported the bill.
Committee members questioned whether the law would have a deterrent effect. Representative Love and several supporters argued the bill would protect children and that catching and convicting offenders carries unavoidable incarceration costs. DOC and law‑enforcement witnesses said deterrence is hoped for but hard to quantify; DOC said it does not have sufficient data to predict long‑term deterrence effects on incarceration costs.
In executive action the committee concurred with House Bill 82 (motion to concur carried after a call of the question and proxies were assumed in favor). Representative Love will carry the bill on the floor.
Why it matters: supporters say the bill provides tools to prosecute online predators and protect children; the fiscal impact to the criminal justice system is modest in committee testimony but depends on conviction counts and capacity to house convicted offenders.
