H. B. 4450
(By Delegates Walters, Hunt and L. White)
[Introduced February 16, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section ten, article twenty, chapter
thirty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the payment of
jail costs by the state for time served in regional jails.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY AUTHORITY.
§31-20-10. Regional jail and correctional facility development
fund.
(a) The regional jail and correctional facility development
fund is hereby created and shall be a special account in the
state treasury. The fund shall operate as a revolving fund whereby all appropriations and payments thereto may be applied
and reapplied by the authority for the purposes of this article.
Separate accounts may be established within the special account
for the purpose of identification of various revenue resources
and payment of specific obligations.
(b) Revenues deposited into the fund shall be used to make
payments of interest and shall be pledged as security for bonds,
security interests or notes issued or lease-purchase obligations
entered into with another state entity by the authority pursuant
to this article.
(c) Whenever the authority determines that the balance in the
fund is in excess of the immediate requirements of this article,
it may request that such excess be invested until needed. In
such case such excess shall be invested in a manner consistent
with the investment of the temporary state funds. Interest
earned on any money invested pursuant to this section shall be
credited to the fund.
(d) If the authority determines that funds held in the fund
are in excess of the amount needed to carry out the purposes of
this article, it shall take such action as is necessary to
release such excess and transfer it to the general fund of the
state treasury.
(e) The fund shall consist of the following:
(1) Amounts raised by the authority by the sale of bonds or other borrowing authorized by this article;
(2) Moneys collected and deposited in the state treasury which
are specifically designated by acts of the Legislature for
inclusion into the fund;
(3) Contributions, grants and gifts from any source, both
public and private, which may be used by the authority for any
project or projects;
(4) All sums paid by the counties pursuant to subsection (h)
of this section; and
(5) All interest earned on investments made by the state from
moneys deposited in this fund.
(f) The amounts deposited in the fund shall be accounted for
and expended in the following manner:
(1) Amounts raised by the sale of bonds or other borrowing
authorized by this article shall be deposited in a separate
account within the fund and expended for the purpose of
construction and renovation of correctional facilities and
regional jails for which need has been determined by the
authority;
(2) Amounts deposited from all other sources shall be pledged
first to the debt service on any bonded indebtedness, including
lease-purchase obligations entered into by the authority with
another state entity or other obligation incurred by borrowing of
the authority;
(3) After any requirements of debt service have been
satisfied, the authority shall requisition from the fund such
amounts as are necessary to provide for payment of the
administrative expenses of this article;
(4) The authority shall requisition from the fund after any
requirements of debt service have been satisfied such amounts as
are necessary for the maintenance and operation of the
correctional facilities or regional jails or both that are
constructed pursuant to the plan required by this article and
shall expend such amounts for such purpose. The fund shall make
an accounting of all amounts received from each county by virtue
of any filing fees, court costs or fines required by law to be
deposited in the fund and amounts from the jail improvement funds
of the various counties. After the expenses of administration
have been deducted, the amounts expended in the respective
regions from such sources shall be in proportion to the
percentage the amount contributed to the fund by the counties in
each region bears to the total amount received by the fund from
such sources;
(5) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, sums
paid into the fund by each county pursuant to subsection (h) of
this section for each inmate shall be placed in a separate
account and shall be requisitioned from the fund to pay for the
costs specified in that subsection incurred at the regional jail facility at which each such inmate was incarcerated; and
(6) Any amounts deposited in the fund from other sources
permitted by this article shall be expended in the respective
regions based on particular needs to be determined by the
authority.
(g) After a regional jail facility becomes available pursuant
to this article for the incarceration of inmates, each county
within the region shall incarcerate all persons whom the county
would have incarcerated in any jail prior to the availability of
the regional jail facility in the regional jail facility except
those whose incarceration in a local jail facility used as a
local holding facility is specified as appropriate under the
standards and procedures developed pursuant to section nine of
this article and who the sheriff or the circuit court elects to
incarcerate therein.
(h) When inmates are placed in a regional jail facility
pursuant to subsection (g) of this section, the county shall pay
into the regional jail and correctional facility development fund
a cost per day for each inmate so incarcerated to be determined
by the regional jail and correctional facility authority
according to criteria and by procedures established by
regulations pursuant to article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of
this code to cover the costs of operating the regional jail
facilities of this state to maintain each such inmate which costs shall not include the cost of construction, acquisition or
renovation of said regional jail facilities:
Provided, That each
regional jail facility operating in this state shall keep a
record of the date and time of the incarceration of an inmate,
and a county may not be charged for a second day of incarceration
for an individual inmate until that inmate has remained
incarcerated for more than twenty-four hours. Thereafter, in
cases of continuous incarceration, subsequent per diem charges
shall be made upon a county only as subsequent intervals of
twenty-four hours pass from the original time of incarceration.
(i) On and after the first day of November, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-three, the amounts as and when specified in
section thirty-a, article fifteen, chapter eleven of this code
shall be paid into the regional jail and correctional facility
development fund. All of the specified amounts deposited in this
fund shall be pledged to the repayment of the principal and
interest on any revenue bonds or refunding bonds authorized by
article twenty, chapter thirty-one of this code, or any
lease-purchase obligations entered into with another state
entity. On or prior to the first day of January of each year,
commencing the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, the authority shall certify to the tax commissioner
of the state the principal and interest requirements for the
following fiscal year on any revenue bonds or refunding bonds issued or to be issued or lease-purchase obligations entered into
or to be entered into with another state entity, on or after the
first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, and
for which moneys contained within the regional jail and
correctional facility development fund have been, or will be,
pledged for repayment pursuant to this section:
Provided, That
before the first day of November, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-three, the authority shall also certify to the state tax
commissioner the principal and interest requirements or
lease-purchase obligations entered into by the authority with
another state entity for the fiscal year ending on the thirtieth
day of June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, on any
revenue bonds or refunding bonds issued or lease-purchase
obligations entered into by the authority with another state
entity, by the authority on or after the first day of January,
one thousand nine hundred ninety-four. The maximum aggregate
face value of bonds that may be issued by the authority, for
which moneys in the regional jail and correctional facility
development fund are to be pledged, is sixty-one million dollars.
(j) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the supreme
court of appeals of West Virginia has held that the revenue bonds
authorized under the school building authority act, as enacted in
article nine-d, chapter eighteen of this code prior to the
twentieth day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, constituted an indebtedness of the state in violation of section
four, article
ten X of the constitution of West Virginia. The
Legislature hereby further finds and declares that this section,
as well as section thirty, article fifteen, chapter eleven of
this code have been reenacted during the second extraordinary
session of the West Virginia Legislature in the year one thousand
nine hundred ninety-three, and that section thirty-a of said
article has been enacted in an attempt to comply with the holding
of the supreme court of appeals of West Virginia. The
Legislature hereby further finds and declares that the continued
construction and improvement of jail and prison facilities and
the dedication of the consumers sales tax pursuant to said
section to finance such construction and improvement are for the
use and benefit of the state, its counties, its municipalities
and its other political subdivisions, and such construction and
improvement serves the vital public purpose of assuring the
physical safety of each citizen and the public at large. The
Legislature hereby further finds and declares that it intends,
through the reenactment of this section and section thirty,
article fifteen, chapter eleven of this code and the enactment of
section thirty-a of said article to dedicate a source of state
revenue to a special fund for the purpose of paying a portion of
the debt service on bonds and refunding bonds issued and
lease-purchase obligations entered into by the authority with another state entity, subsequent to the first day of January, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-four, the proceeds of which will be
utilized for the construction and improvement of jail and prison
facilities. The Legislature hereby further finds and declares
that it intends, through the reenactment of this section and
section thirty, article fifteen, chapter eleven of this code, and
the enactment of section thirty-a of said article to comply with
the provisions of section four, article
ten; X; section six,
article
ten X; section six-a, article
ten X; and section one,
article
twelve XII of the constitution of West Virginia.
If, at
any time, a person who is sentenced to serve a term of
imprisonment in the state penitentiary is given credit on that
sentence equal to time spent in a regional jail awaiting and
during trial, the state shall reimburse the county or
municipality which originally paid the cost of incarceration of
that inmate.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that, if, at any
time, a person who is sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment
in the state penitentiary is given credit on that sentence equal
to time spent in a regional jail awaiting and during trial, the
state shall reimburse the county or municipality which originally
paid the cost of incarceration of that inmate.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that
would be added.