Relating to enhancing the penalties for certain repeat and habitual offenders.

This bill would increase penalties for repeat and habitual offenders. For example if a person has committed a Class A misdemeanor, it would be automatically increased to a state jail felony charge if the individual has any felony convictions or four or more Class A misdemeanors. At least one of the previous convictions must have been a felony, and their previous convictions must have occurred within the previous ten years, in order to be eligible for an enhanced penalty under this bill. The bill provides similar enhancements for people with prior felony convictions. The bill also provides for judicial discretion in applying the sentence enhancements.

This bill addresses the need to provide appropriate sentencing for repeat and habitual offenders while giving judges discretion to order the sentence enhancements based on the facts of an individual case. This supports our limited government and personal responsibility principles. We support HB 383.