Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Division of the Budget
Landon State Office Building                                                                            Phone: (785) 296-2436
900 SW Jackson Street, Room 504                                                                        adam.c.proffitt@ks.gov
Topeka, KS 66612                                Division of the Budget                                http://budget.kansas.gov
Adam Proffitt, Director                                                                              Laura Kelly, Governor


                                                     March 2, 2021


          The Honorable Kellie Warren, Chairperson
          Senate Committee on Judiciary
          Statehouse, Room 441B-E
          Topeka, Kansas 66612
          Dear Senator Warren:
                    SUBJECT:      Fiscal Note for SB 136 by Senate Committee on Ways and Means
                  In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning SB 136 is
          respectfully submitted to your committee.
                 SB 136 would abolish the death penalty for crimes committed on or after July 1, 2021. The
          bill would repeal the capital murder statute and create the new crime of aggravated murder, which
          would be an off-grid person felony. Offenders convicted of aggravated murder would be sentenced
          to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole and would not be eligible for
          commutation of sentence, parole, probation, assignment to a community correctional services
          program, conditional release, post release supervision, functional incapacitation release, or
          suspension, modification, or reduction of sentence. The bill would also make several technical
          amendments.
                  The Office of Judicial Administration states enactment of SB 136 would still require the
          courts to work through any existing death penalty cases committed before July 1, 2021. Judges
          and nonjudicial staff at both the district and appellate court levels work additional hours to address
          death penalty cases and, to some extent, have to delay hearing other cases. The Office indicates
          aggravated murder proceedings would be less lengthy than death penalty proceedings. According
          to the Office, a fiscal effect cannot be estimated on the Judicial Branch until the courts have been
          given an opportunity to operate under the bill’s provisions.
                 If the death penalty were to be abolished under SB 136, the State Board of Indigents’
          Defense Services estimates savings for the agency of approximately $581,339 from the State
          General Fund in casework costs. According to the Board, these savings would not be realized for
          a few years because of the time it takes to resolve existing caseloads of already charged and/or
          convicted capital cases.
The Honorable Kellie Warren, Chairperson
Page 2—SB 136

        The Office of the Attorney General estimates that the bill would cause the agency to incur
additional costs of approximately $375,000 from the State General Fund over the next two fiscal
years. The Office states that new legal arguments may be available to those offenders who were
sentenced to death for crimes committed before July 1, 2021. According to the Office, there are
ten offenders who are under the sentence of death. This could result in those offenders creating
additional legal actions, which would result in litigation costs of approximately $250,000 (10
offenders X $25,000 per case) for those cases. Also, the Office of the Attorney General anticipates
that the bill would generate at least one U.S. Supreme Court appeal, which would require additional
expenditures of approximately $125,000.
       The Kansas Sentencing Commission states that enactment of SB 136 would have no effect
on prison admissions or beds as it is beyond the ten-year forecasting period. The Kansas
Department of Corrections estimates enactment of SB 136 would not have a fiscal effect on
Department operations. Any fiscal effect associated with SB 136 is not reflected in The FY 2022
Governor’s Budget Report.
        The Kansas Association of Counties states enactment of the bill could have a negligible
fiscal effect on counties.


                                                      Sincerely,

                                                      Adam Proffitt
                                                      Director of the Budget

cc: Debbie Thomas, Judiciary
    Randy Bowman, Corrections
    Scott Schultz, Sentencing Commission
    Wendi Stark, League of Municipalities
    Jay Hall, Association of Counties
    Heather Cessna, Indigents Defense Services
    Willie Prescott, Office of the Attorney General
Statutes affected: 
As introduced: 21-5301, 21-5402, 21-5419, 21-6328, 21-6614, 21-6618, 21-6620, 21-6622, 21-6628, 21-6629, 21-6806, 22-2512, 21-6301, 22-3717, 22-4902, 22-4906, 23-3222, 38-2255, 38-2271, 38-2266, 38-2303, 38-2312, 38-2365, 39-970, 39-2009, 65-5117, 72-2165, 75-52