Public Benefits Theft

The bill creates specific elements for public benefits theft in the theft statute. A person commits public benefits theft when a person intentionally misrepresents or withholds a material fact for determining eligibility, and does so for the purpose of obtaining or retaining public benefits the recipient of the public benefits is not eligible for which the person is not eligible.For the purposes of calculating the value of the public benefit involved, the bill defines it as the difference between the value of the public benefit received and the value of the public benefit the recipient was eligible for; except that, if the agency that provides the public benefit makes a referral for prosecution more than 180 calendar days after first receiving evidence of a misrepresentation or withholding of material fact, the value of the public benefit received after the agency received the evidence must be subtracted from the total.A person's conduct that is limited to the elements of public benefits theft is not subject to prosecution pursuant to any other provision of the theft statute.

(Note: Italicized words indicate new material added to the original summary; dashes through words indicate deletions from the original summary.)

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)