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June 25, 2024 SB 24-118
Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Final Fiscal Note
Drafting Number:
Prime Sponsors:
LLS 24-0948
Sen. Gonzales
Date:
Bill Status:
Fiscal Analyst:
June 25, 2024
Postponed Indefinitely
Aaron Carpenter | 303-866-4918
aaron.carpenter@coleg.gov
Bill Topic: INDETERMINATE SEX OFFENDER SENTENCING
Summary of
Fiscal Impact:
☐ State Revenue
☒ State Expenditure
☐ State Transfer
☐ TABOR Refund
☐ Local Government
☐ Statutory Public Entity
The bill would have removed indeterminate sentences for sex offenders to the
Department of Corrections and would have required these sentences to be
determinate. The bill would have increased state expenditures in FY 2024-25 and
would have decreased state expenditures in future years.
Appropriation
Summary:
For FY 2024-25, the bill would have required an appropriation of $8,000 to the
Department of Corrections.
Fiscal Note
Status:
The final fiscal note reflects the introduced bill. This bill was postponed indefinitely by
the Senate Judiciary committee on April 15, 2024; therefore, the impacts identified in
this analysis do not take effect.
Table 1
State Fiscal Impacts Under SB 24-118
Budget Year
FY 2024-25
Out Year
FY 2025-26
Out Year
FY 2038-39
Revenue - - -
Expenditures General Fund $8,000 - ($483,795)
Transfers - - -
Other Budget
Impacts
General Fund Reserve $1,200 - ($72,569)
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June 25, 2024 SB 24-118
Summary of Legislation
The bill removes indeterminate sentences to the Department of Corrections (DOC) for sex
offenders and requires determinate sentences instead. The bill makes other changes to
sentencing, venues for sex offender treatment, and parole eligibility, as described below.
Sex offender sentencing. Under current law, if a court sentences a sex offender to the DOC, the
term of that sentence must be indeterminate, or not having a definitive end date. The bill
removes indeterminate sentences for sex offenders to DOC and requires courts to set a
determinate sentence, or a sentence with a definitive end date. The bill does require a term of
indeterminate parole for sex offenders.
In addition, the bill raises the minimum amount of time a sex offender can be sentenced to the
DOC. As a result, under the bill the DOC sentence for a sex offender is a determinate term of at
least:
the midpoint of the presumptive range for the felony classification the offender committed;
and
the upper limit of the presumptive range for the felony classification the offender committed
if the crime was also a crime of violence.
The bill does not change the sentencing range for habitual child offenders against children but
does require a determinate DOC sentence and an indeterminate term on parole. Finally, the bill
removes specific sentencing for knowingly transmitting HIV to a victim.
Venue for sex offender treatment. The bill outlines where sex offenders must undergo
treatment: either in the DOC or in a community setting. Sex offenders must undergo treatment
in the DOC if the offender has been sentenced to the DOC; has been assessed as ready to
engage in treatment; and is assessed as being high risk for sexual recidivism. If the offender is
not identified as a high risk for sexual recidivism, the sex offender must begin treatment during
the community placement or supervision phase of the sentence (i.e. parole or community
corrections placement). These offenders may also receive treatment in the DOC if there is
sufficient capacity. If an offender is at a high risk for sexual recidivism and is classified as a
person who denies the sexual offense, the DOC must provide denier intervention services to the
offender.
The DOC must monitor sex offender treatment capacity and must prioritize its resources for
offenders who are a high risk for sexual recidivism.
Release to parole. The bill requires that sex offenders serve at least 75 percent of their
determinate DOC sentence, inclusive of earned time, before becoming eligible for parole. The
bill also requires the Parole Board to order any treatment in the community phase of the sex
offender’s sentence, unless the offender is assessed as high risk of sexual recidivism.
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June 25, 2024 SB 24-118
Revocation of parole. The bill requires community parole officers to make a recommendation
as to whether further treatment in the DOC or in the community is necessary for the sex
offender when recommending revocation of parole. The bill sets the maximum revocation as the
time for mandatory parole in the current presumptive ranges.
Successfully progressed in treatment. The bill provides a definition of “successfully progressed
in treatment.”
Clean up. The bill removes references to a report conducted by the Division of Criminal Justice,
which was presented to the General Assembly in February 2024.
Background and Assumptions
The DOC reports that it receives an average of 82 new court commitments per year for
indeterminate sex offender sentences. According to the Colorado Department of Public Safety
(CDPS), 75 percent of indeterminate offenders currently fall into the average level of “lower” risk.
Finally, the CDPS, in its January DOC population projection, estimates that an offender subject to
the Lifetime Supervision Act spends about 18 years in the DOC and 15.6 years on parole.
Based on this data, this fiscal note assumes that:
most sentences to the DOC already fall within the increased minimum of the presumptive
range outlined in the bill; therefore, the bill will not result in longer sentences to the DOC;
courts will sentence offenders to the current average length of stay (18 years); and
based on the current risk level, 75 percent of offenders will be released at their 75 percent
eligibility (13.5 years later).
State Expenditures
In FY 2024-25, the bill increases General Fund expenditures in the DOC by $8,000. In future
years, the bill will decrease expenditures in the DOC, and may increase expenditures in the
CDPS, as described below.
Department of Corrections – budget year. In FY 2024-25, expenditures in the DOC will
increase to update its time tracking software and to update the prioritization in the global
referral list to reflect changes in the bill. This cost includes programming and testing the
software. In addition, workload will increase to update internal policies to comply with the bill.
Department of Corrections – future years. Based on the assumptions outlined above, this bill
will decrease prison operating costs for the DOC by an estimated total of $7.8 million over the
five-year period beginning in FY 2037-38, as shown in Table 2. This cost savings will be reduced
by increased costs to provide treatment in the community to offenders on parole; however,
these treatment costs have not been estimated.
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June 25, 2024 SB 24-118
To the extent sex offenders receive sentences from the court that differ from these assumptions,
or vary due to earned time and Parole Board decision-making, costs savings may be realized on
a different time frame than what is estimated below. To the extent offenders are sentenced to
community corrections instead of parole, costs to the CDPS will increase—see the CDPS section
below.
Table 2
Prison and Parole Operating Costs Under SB 24-118
Fiscal Year
Prison ADP
Impact
Prison
Cost
Parole ADP
Impact
Parole
Cost
Total
Costs
FY 2037-38 - - - - -
FY 2038-39 (30.44) ($739,138) 30.44 $255,343 ($483,795)
FY 2039-40 (91.94) ($2,232,346) 91.94 $771,186 ($1,461,159)
FY 2040-41 (153.44) ($3,725,553) 153.44 $1,287,030 ($2,438,524)
FY 2041-42 (214.94) ($5,218,761) 214.94 $1,802,873 ($3,415,888)
Total ($7,799,366)
Department of Public Safety. To the extent additional offenders are sentenced to community
corrections in the CDPS beginning in the 2030s, expenditures in the CDPS will increase. The
exact increase in expenditures is dependent upon the number of parolees accepted by
community correction boards; therefore, an exact increase in costs cannot be determined. The
fiscal note assumes that if additional beds are needed, they will be funded through the annual
budget process. For informational purposes, the current residential bed base rate without an
incentive payment is $69.01 and a sex offender bed without an incentive payment is $103.01.
Other Budget Impacts
General Fund reserve. Under current law, an amount equal to 15 percent of General Fund
appropriations must be set aside in the General Fund statutory reserve. Based on this fiscal note,
the bill is expected to increase the amount of General Fund held in reserve by the amounts
shown in Table 1, decreasing the amount of General Fund available for other purposes.
Effective Date
The bill takes effect October 1, 2024, and applies to offenses committed on or after this date.
State Appropriations
For FY 2024-25, the bill requires a General Fund appropriation of $8,000 to the Department of
Corrections. Page 5
June 25, 2024 SB 24-118
State and Local Government Contacts
Corrections District Attorneys Judicial
Public Safety
The revenue and expenditure impacts in this fiscal note represent changes from current law under the bill for each
fiscal year. For additional information about fiscal notes, please visit the General Assembly website.