This document does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives.
STORAGE NAME: h1449z.DOCX
DATE: 3/6/2024
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF FINAL BILL ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/HB 1449 Reclassification of Criminal Penalties
SPONSOR(S): Judiciary Committee, Michael and others
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: CS/CS/SB 1036
FINAL HOUSE FLOOR ACTION: 83 Y’s
30 N’s GOVERNOR’S ACTION: Pending
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
CS/HB 1449 passed the House on March 6, 2024, as CS/CS/SB 1036.
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the federal law enforcement agency responsible
for securing the nation’s borders and facilitating international travel and trade. The CBP’s top priority is to keep
terrorists and their weapons from entering the United States. In Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2023, the total
enforcement actions of the Office of Field Operations and the U.S. Border Patrol were 1,137,452, and are
354,753 to date in FFY 2024, including apprehensions, inadmissibles, and expulsions. Criminal noncitizens
encountered at the United States borders are a subset of the total inadmissibles encountered and United
States Border Patrol arrests of criminal noncitizens are a subset of total apprehensions. Encounters with
criminal noncitizens in FFY 2023 was 20,166 and has been 4,805 in FFY 2024 to date.
“Organized crime has been defined as ‘illegal activities, conducted by groups or networks acting in concert by
engaging in violence, corruption or related activities in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or
material benefit.’ Transnational organized crime occurs when these activities, or these groups or networks,
operate in two or more countries.” Transnational criminal organizations engage in a broad range of criminal
activities, including, but not limited to, drug and weapons trafficking, human smuggling, human trafficking,
cybercrime, and money laundering, generating an estimated revenue of between $1.6 trillion and $2.2 trillion
annually.
The bill creates s. 775.0848, F.S., to require reclassification of any new felony committed by a person who was
previously convicted of a crime relating to reentry of a removed alien under 8 U.S.C. s. 1326.
The bill also creates s. 908.12, F.S., to authorize reclassification of any misdemeanor or felony if a person
committed the offense for the purpose of benefiting, promoting, or furthering the interests of a transnational
crime organization. The bill defines “transnational crime organization” to mean an organization that routinely
facilitates the international trafficking of drugs, humans, or weapons or the international smuggling of humans.
Under the bill, qualifying offenses under ss. 775.0848 and 908.12, F.S., are reclassified as follows:
A misdemeanor of the second-degree is reclassified to a misdemeanor of the first-degree.
A misdemeanor of the first-degree is reclassified to a felony of the third-degree.
A felony of the third-degree is reclassified to a felony of the second-degree.
A felony of the second-degree is reclassified to a felony of the first-degree.
A felony of the first-degree is reclassified to a life felony.
The Criminal Justice Impact Conference met on February 12, 2024, and determined that the bill would have a
positive insignificant impact on jail and prison beds. See Fiscal Comments.
Subject to the Governor’s veto powers, the effective date of this bill is October 1, 2024.
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DATE: 3/6/2024
I. SUBSTANTIVE INFORMATION
A. EFFECT OF CHANGES:
Background
Immigration
The Federal Government establishes and enforces immigration laws. The federal Immigration and
Nationality Act (INA) contains many of the most important provisions of immigration law.
1
The Department of Homeland Security, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
Enforcement and Removal Operations, is responsible for enforcing the immigration laws and
identifying, apprehending, and removing aliens who are a risk to national security or public safety, who
are in the country illegally, or who undermine the integrity of the country’s immigration laws or border
control efforts.
2
The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the federal law enforcement agency
responsible for securing the nation’s borders and facilitating international travel and trade. The CBP’s
top priority is to keep terrorists and their weapons from entering the United States.
In Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2023,
3
the total enforcement actions of the Office of Field Operations
(OFO) and the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP)
4
were 1,137,452, and are 354,753 to date in FFY 2024,
including apprehensions, inadmissibles, and expulsions.
5, 6
Criminal noncitizens
7
encountered at the United States borders are a subset of the total inadmissibles
encountered and United States Border Patrol arrests of criminal noncitizens are a subset of total
apprehensions. Encounters with criminal noncitizens for the past five years at all land borders were:
8
FFY 2020 FFY 2021 FFY 2022 FFY 2023 FFY 2024 (to date)
7,009 6,567 16,993 20,166 4,805
Reentry of Removed Aliens
1
8 U.S.C. §§ 1101-1778.
2
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, Mission, https://www.ice.gov/ero (last visited
Mar. 6, 2024).
3
The federal fiscal year runs October 1 – September 30.
4
Both are federal law enforcement agencies under CBP.
5
CBP, CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2023, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics (last visited Mar.
6, 2024).
6
These figures include both Title 8 enforcement actions and Title 42 expulsions. Title 8 enforcement actions include apprehensions or
inadmissibles. Inadmissibles refers to individuals encountered at ports of entry who are seeking lawful admission into the U.S. but are
determined to be inadmissible, individuals presenting themselves to seek humanitarian protection under our laws, and individuals who
withdraw an application for admission and return to their countries of origin within a short timeframe. Apprehensions refers to the
physical control or temporary detainment of a person who is not lawfully in the U.S. which may or may not result in an arrest. Title 42
expulsions refers to individuals encountered by USBP or OFO and expelled to the country of last transit or home country in the interest
of public health. CBP, Nationwide Enforcement Encounters: Title 8 Enforcement Actions and Title 42 Expulsions Fiscal Year 2023,
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics/title-8-and-title-42-statistics (last visited Mar. 6, 2024).
7
“Criminal noncitizens” refers to noncitizens who have been convicted of a crime, whether in the U.S. or abroad, so long as the
conviction is for conduct which is deemed criminal in the United States. CBP, CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2023,
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics (last visited Mar. 6, 2024).
8
CBP, supra at note 5.
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Section 1326 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
9
generally, prohibits an alien
10
that has been
denied admission, excluded, deported, or removed or has departed the United States while an order of
exclusion, deportation, or removal is outstanding from reentering or attempting to reenter the United
States, unless the alien has acquired express consent from the Attorney General prior to reentering.
An alien who violates this prohibition may be fined under Title 18 of the United States Code (U.S.C.),
imprisoned for up to two years, or both.
11
Transnational Crime Organizations
“Organized crime has been defined as ‘illegal activities, conducted by groups or networks acting in
concert by engaging in violence, corruption or related activities in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a
financial or material benefit.’ Transnational organized crime occurs when these activities, or these
groups or networks, operate in two or more countries.”
12
Transnational crime organizations (TCOs)
engage in a broad range of criminal activities, including, but not limited to, drug and weapons
trafficking, human smuggling, human trafficking, cybercrime, and money laundering, generating an
estimated revenue of between $1.6 trillion and $2.2 trillion annually.
13
Drug Trafficking
Drug trafficking is TCOs’ second-highest most profitable illicit activity.
14
TCOs’ expansion of drug
trafficking is often accompanied by dramatic increases in local crime and corruption.
15
Florida law prohibits a person from drug trafficking by knowingly selling, purchasing, manufacturing,
delivering, or bringing into the state, or being in actual or constructive possession of, a specified
quantity of a controlled substance.
16
Section 893.135, F.S., outlines threshold amounts of the
applicable controlled substance for each trafficking offense.
Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is modern day slavery which involves the transporting, soliciting, recruiting,
harboring, providing, enticing, maintaining, purchasing, patronizing, procuring, or obtaining of another
person for the purpose of exploiting that person.
17
A person may not knowingly, or in reckless disregard
of the facts, engage in human trafficking, attempt to engage in human trafficking, or benefit financially
by receiving anything of value from participating in a venture that has subjected a person to human
trafficking for commercial sexual activity, labor, or services:
9
8 U.S.C.A. §1326.
10
“Alien” means any person not a citizen or national of the United States. 8 U.S.C.A. §1101(a)(3).
11
8 U.S.C.A. §1326(a).
12
Dr. Marina Caparini, Transnational organized crime A threat to global public goods, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
(Sept. 2, 2022), https://www.sipri.org/commentary/topical-backgrounder/2022/transnational-organized-crime-threat-global-public-goods
(last visited Mar. 6, 2024).
13
Executive Order 14060, Establishing the United States Council on Transnational Organized Crime, 86 Fed. Reg. 71793 (Dec. 15,
2021).; See The White House, FACT SHEET: The Biden Administration Launches New Efforts to Counter Transnational Criminal
Organizations and Illicit Drugs, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/15/fact-sheet-the-biden-
administration-launches-new-efforts-to-counter-transnational-criminal-organizations-and-illicit-drugs/ (last visited Mar. 6, 2024) and
Channing Mavrellis, Transnational Crime and the Developing World, Global Financial Integrity (Mar. 27, 2017),
https://gfintegrity.org/report/transnational-crime-and-the-developing-world/ (last visited Mar. 6, 2024).
14
Channing Mavrellis, supra at note 13.
15
National Security Council, Transnational Organized Crime: A Growing Threat to National and International Security,
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/nsc/transnational-crime/threat (last visited Mar. 6, 2024).
16
Florida law criminalizes trafficking in cannabis; cocaine; illegal drugs, which include morphine, opium, hydromorphone, or any salt
derivative, isomer, or salt of an isomer thereof, including heroin; hydrocodone, oxycodone; fentanyl; phencyclidine; methaqualone;
amphetamine; flunitrazepam; gamma-hydroxybutyric (GHB); gamma-butyrolactone (GBL); 1,4-Butanediol; phenethylamines; lysergic
acid diethylamide (LSD); synthetic cannabinoids; and n-benzyl phenethylamines. S. 893.135, F.S.
17
S. 787.06(2)(d), F.S.
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DATE: 3/6/2024
By using coercion;
18
With or of a child or person believed to be a child younger than 18;
19
or
If for commercial sexual activity, with a mentally defective
20
or mentally incapacitated
21
person.
22
Human Smuggling
Section 787.07, F.S., prohibits a person from transporting an individual into this state who the person
knows, or should know, is illegally entering the United States from another country. A person commits a
separate offense for each individual he or she transports into this state.
Enhanced Penalties for Gang-Related Offenses
Section 874.04, F.S., enhances the penalty for any felony or misdemeanor, or any delinquent act or
violation of law which would be a felony or misdemeanor if committed by an adult, if the commission of
the offense is found to be for the purpose of benefiting, promoting, or furthering the interests of a
criminal gang
23
as follows:
A misdemeanor of the second-degree may be punished as if it were a misdemeanor of the first-
degree.
A misdemeanor of the first-degree may be punished as if it were a felony of the third-degree.
24
A felony of the third-degree may be punished as if it were a felony of the second-degree.
A felony of the second-degree may be punished as if it were a felony of the first-degree.
A felony of the first-degree may be punished as if it were a life felony.
25
Effect of the Bill
The bill creates s. 775.0848, F.S., to require reclassification of any new felony committed by a person
who was previously convicted of a crime relating to reentry of a removed alien under 8 U.S.C. s. 1326.
The bill also creates s. 908.12, F.S., to authorize reclassification of any misdemeanor or felony if a
person committed the offense for the purpose of benefiting, promoting, or furthering the interests of a
transnational crime organization.
The bill defines “transnational crime organization” to mean an organization that routinely facilitates the
international trafficking of drugs, humans, or weapons or the international smuggling of humans.
Under the bill, qualifying offenses under ss. 775.0848 and 908.12, F.S., are reclassified as follows:
A misdemeanor of the second-degree is reclassified to a misdemeanor of the first-degree.
A misdemeanor of the first-degree is reclassified to a felony of the third-degree.
A felony of the third-degree is reclassified to a felony of the second-degree.
A felony of the second-degree is reclassified to a felony of the first-degree.
A felony of the first-degree is reclassified to a life felony.
18
Ss. 787.06(3)(a)2., (b), (c)2., (d), (e)2., and (f)2., F.S.
19
Ss. 787.06(3)(a)1., (c)1., (e)1., (f)1., and (g), F.S.
20
Mentally defective means a mental disease or defect which renders a person temporarily or permanently incapable of appraising the
nature of his or her conduct. S. 794.011(1)(c), F.S.
21
Mentally incapacitated means temporarily incapable of appraising or controlling a person's own conduct due to the influence of a
narcotic, anesthetic, or intoxicating substance administered without his or her consent or due to any other act committed upon that
person without his or her consent. S. 794.011(1)(d), F.S.
22
S. 787.06(3)(g), F.S.
23
Section 874.03(1), F.S., defines “criminal gang” to mean a formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group that has as
one of its primary activities the commission of criminal or delinquent acts, and that consists of three or more persons who have a
common name or common identifying signs, colors, or symbols, including, but not limited to, terrorist organizations and hate groups.
24
For purposes of sentencing such an offense is ranked as a level 1 offense on the Criminal Punishment Code offense severity ranking
chart. S. 874.04(1)(b), F.S.
25
For purposes of sentencing any such felony offenses enhanced under s. 874.04, F.S., are to be ranked on the OSRC without regard
to the penalty enhancement.
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DATE: 3/6/2024
Subject to the Governor’s veto powers, the effective date of this bill is October 1, 2024.
II. FISCAL ANALYSIS & ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT
A. FISCAL IMPACT ON STATE GOVERNMENT:
1. Revenues:
None.
2. Expenditures:
See Fiscal Comments.
B. FISCAL IMPACT ON LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
1. Revenues:
None.
2. Expenditures:
See Fiscal Comments.
C. DIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACT ON PRIVATE SECTOR:
None.
D. FISCAL COMMENTS:
The Criminal Justice Impact Conference met on February 12, 2024, and determined that the bill would
have a positive insignificant impact on jail and prison beds.
26
A positive insignificant impact would result
in an impact of ten or fewer prison beds.
Per the Department of Corrections (DOC), in fiscal year 2022-23, 1,131 offenders designated as aliens
were admitted to prison. Furthermore, 363 of these aliens were born in Cuba. However, aliens in the
DOC database include suspected and confirmed aliens, and are also made up of inmates who were
legal and illegal immigrants at the time of their offenses. It is not known how many of these inmates
would fit this bill’s criteria. Furthermore, it is not known how many misdemeanor or felony offenders
committed their crimes to benefit, promote, or further the interests of a transnational crime
organization.
27
26
Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Criminal Justice Impact Conference, 2024 CS/SB 1036 (Similar HB 1449)
February 12, 2024. http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/conferences/criminaljusticeimpact/CSSB1036.pdf (last visited Mar. 6, 2024).
27
Id.