House Bill 5692 Summary

• Creates a sentencing commission within the legislative council with 16 members including legislative leaders, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, corrections officials, crime victim advocates, and alternatives-to-incarceration representatives.

• Commission members appointed by the governor serve 4-year terms (except ex-officio members who serve at pleasure), with staggered initial appointments of 2, 3, and 4 years; members receive expense reimbursement but no salary.

• Requires the commission to collect and analyze sentencing data, conduct research on sentencing guidelines impacts, project correctional facility capacity needs, and recommend modifications to sentencing guidelines within statutory requirements.

• Sentencing guideline modifications must balance public protection, proportionality to offense severity and criminal history, reduction of sentencing disparities, appropriate use of imprisonment versus intermediate sanctions, and establishment of sentence ranges within statutory minimums and maximums.

• Commission must submit recommended guideline modifications to the legislature; if not enacted within 60 days of bill introduction, commission revises and resubmits within 90 days and continues resubmitting every 90 days until enacted; commission must convene by December 31, 2014, and reconvene at least every 3 years thereafter.