Senate committee approves making strangulation an 85% offense amid debate over prison impact

The appropriations committee voted to pass House Bill 32 64, which adds domestic abuse by strangulation to the list of offenses carrying an 85% sentence. Sponsor Senator Thompson said the measure addresses a violent act that is often a precursor to homicide and urged passage.

During questioning, Senator Rader and others pressed the sponsor on whether changing sentencing percentages reduces incidence of the crime and on the likely increase to the incarcerated population. The sponsor said the policy "does not" reduce the crime rate but lengthens sentences, and referenced data indicating about 275 people annually are convicted of related offenses. Committee members asked for more concrete estimates of correctional costs; the sponsor said staff would attempt to provide hypothetical numbers before the bill reaches the floor.

Senator Weaver argued for the bill on victim-safety grounds and cited statistics linking prior strangulation to increased homicide risk, saying the offense signals serious escalation in violence. Lawmakers discussed the practicality and fiscal implications of longer sentences, but there was no formal fiscal figure established in committee; one senator referenced a report suggesting an $80,000,000 annual cost as a question to the sponsor.

The clerk recorded 21 ayes and 0 nays, and the chair declared the bill passed by the committee.

Next steps: sponsors committed to running additional fiscal scenarios to estimate incarceration and corrections cost before the bill reaches further consideration.