AN ACT INCREASING THE PENALTY FOR SUBSEQUENT OFFENSES OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS

Legislative Office Building, Room 5200

Hartford, CT 06106 ↓ (860) 240-0200

http: //www. cga. ct. gov/ofa

HB-5289

AN ACT INCREASING THE PENALTY FOR SUBSEQUENT OFFENSES OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

Agency Affected	Fund-Effect	FY 13 $	FY 14 $
Judicial Dept.	GF - Potential Revenue Gain	Less than $5,000	Less than $5,000
Judicial Dept (Probation)/Dept of Correction	GF - Potential Cost	See Below	See Below

Note: GF=General Fund

Municipal Impact: None

Explanation

The bill increases subsequent offense of specified types of animal cruelty and could result in a potential revenue gain of less than $5,000. In FY 11, less than 10 offenders were fined under this statute for total revenue of less than $1,000.

To the extent that offenders are prosecuted criminally and subsequently convicted or plead guilty, the state could incur a cost associated with incarceration and/or probation supervision in the community. On average, it costs the state $3,736 to supervise an offender on probation in the community as compared to $44,165 to incarcerate the offender. However, violations of similar statute rarely result in incarceration. Therefore impact to the Department of Corrections is anticipated to be minimal.

The Out Years

The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to the number of offenders who violated this statute.