FISCAL NOTE

Senate Bill 149 as introduced revises the threshold amounts for the crimes of possession of marijuana in the first and second degree and revises the penalties associated with those crimes. This could decrease receipts to the State General Fund and municipal general funds from fines; decrease receipts to the State General Fund, county general funds, municipal general funds, and other funds to which court costs are deposited; and could decrease the obligations of the State General Fund, local jails, the district attorneys, the Department of Corrections, the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles, and community corrections programs by an undetermined amount dependent upon the number of persons not charged with and convicted of the original offense of possession of marijuana in the 1st and 2nd degree.

This bill also provides that all fines and forfeitures of bail shall be deposited into the State General Fund, which could offset, by an undetermined amount the decrease to the State General Fund, dependent upon the number of persons charged with and convicted of the offenses and penalties imposed by this bill.

This bill further provides that defendants convicted of these crimes may petition the circuit court to have their records expunged, which could increase receipts to the funds that receive a distribution from the administrative filing fee for expungement. The current filing fee is $300 and is distributed as follows:

1. $75 to the State Judicial Administrative Fund;

2. $25 to the Department of Forensic Sciences;

3. $50 to the District Attorney’s Office;

4. $50 to the Clerk’s Office of the circuit court having jurisdiction over the matter;

5. $50 to the Public Safety Fund; and

6. $50 to the general fund of the county where the arresting law enforcement agency is located if the arrest was made by the sheriff’s office or the municipality or other entity or state agency funding the law enforcement activity if the arrest was made by another law enforcement agency.