Bogus checks bill advances
A criminal justice reform measure left dormant since last session was quickly advanced by the Oklahoma House on Tuesday, just a day after the Legislature returned to the Capitol.
House Bill 2281 would reduce penalties for 21 low-level property offenses, including bogus checks, forgery, embezzlement and other socalled “paper crimes.” The proposed changes include a tiered system of fines and jail time.
If a person’s crime involves less than $1,000, they would only be charged with a misdemeanor instead of a felony and serve a year in jail, pay up to a $1,000 fine or both. Crimes valued at more than $1,000 would remain a felony.
The bill now heads to the Senate for final approval.
State Rep. Terry O’Donnell said his legislation would help reduce the number of women serving time in Oklahoma prisons.
“Many women in our prison system have been convicted of low-level,
nonviolent crimes like larceny, forgery and writing bad checks,” said O’Donnell, R-Catoosa. “In fact, convictions for those crimes are where we are seeing some of the greatest growth in our corrections system. This is a prime example of an area where we can reform our system, reduce our prison population, rehabilitate offenders and keep families together.”
Between 2011 and 2015, the number of individuals entering the prison system for property offenses grew by 29 percent, including a 37 percent increase in the number of people who were sent directly to prison for conviction of a property crime. At the same time, said O’Donnell, the average sentence length for property crime convictions has grown by 11 percent.
Criminal justice reform advocates praised the action Tuesday, but they remain cautious about other measures left over from last session that still await a hearing.
“This initial movement is encouraging but big impact bills are still out there and those have to pass, without being watered down, to stop skyrocketing prison growth,” said Kris Steele, chairman of Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform.
The bill was part of a package of legislation supported by Gov. Mary Fallin last session that was ultimately blocked in committee before they could be given final consideration. The former committee chairman who refused to hear the bills, Chickasha Republican Scott Biggs, resigned his legislative seat to take a federal post late last year.
There are five more bills endorsed by Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform that are still waiting for a hearing, including those that make changes the parole process and reduce the penalties for some crimes now defined as burglary.
Steele said Oklahoma’s prison population could grow 25 percent over the next decade, at a cost of $2 billion to build new prisons, if more criminal justice reforms aren’t adopted.