FISCAL
NOTE
WEST virginia legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on Political Subdivisions then Finance
A BILL to amend and
reenact §31-20-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
changing the way that the costs of incarcerating inmates in regional jails is
collected so that these are shared by the county, state and municipality where
the alleged criminal act occurs; making the cost of incarceration for less than
twenty-four hours one-half the per diem charge for a full day; and, providing a
funding source for regional jail central office employees and operations.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §31-20-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, 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
authority funds.
(a) The Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority may
create special funds in the State Treasury to identify various revenue sources
and payment of specific obligations.
These funds may be used for purposes that include, but are not limited
to, the construction, renovation or repair of specific facilities, cash
control, facility maintenance and the individual operations accounts of
facilities operated by the authority.
The authority may create other separate accounts within these funds that
it determines are necessary for the efficient operation of the authority.
(b) Revenues deposited into these funds 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
these funds is in excess of the immediate requirements of this article, it may
request that the excess be invested until needed. In this case, the excess shall be invested in
a manner consistent with the investment of temporary state funds. Interest earned on any money invested
pursuant to this section shall be credited to these funds.
(d) If the authority determines that moneys held in these
funds are in excess of the amount needed to carry out the purposes of this
article, it shall take any action that is necessary to release the excess and
transfer it to the General Revenue Fund of the State Treasury.
(e) These funds 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 in
these funds;
(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 state, county and
municipality pursuant to subsection (h) of this section; and
(5) All interest earned on investments made by the state from
moneys deposited in these funds.
(f) The amounts deposited in these funds 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
these funds and expended for the purpose of construction, renovation and repair
of correctional facilities, regional jails and juvenile detention and
correctional facilities for which need has been as 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 these funds the amounts that
are necessary to provide for payment of the administrative expenses of this
article;
(4) The authority shall requisition and expend from
these funds, after any requirements of debt service have been satisfied, the
amounts that are necessary for the maintenance and operation of regional
jails that are constructed pursuant to the provisions of this article and shall expend those amounts for that
purpose constructed pursuant to this article. These funds shall make an accounting An accounting shall be made of all
amounts received from each county by virtue of any filing fees, court
costs or fines required by law to be deposited in these funds 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 those
sources shall be in proportion to the percentage the amount contributed to
these funds by the counties in each region bears to the total amount received
by these funds from those sources;
(5) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article,
sums paid into these funds by each county the state and each county
and municipality pursuant to subsection (h) of this section for each inmate
shall be placed in a separate account and shall be requisitioned from
these funds to pay for costs incurred at the regional jail facility at which
each inmate was incarcerated; and
(6) Any amounts deposited in these funds 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) (1) 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 a 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.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this
subsection, circuit and magistrate courts are authorized to:
(A) Detain persons who have been arrested or charged with a
crime, in a county or municipal jail, specified as appropriate under the
standards and procedures developed pursuant to section nine of this article,
for a period not to exceed ninety-six hours; or
(B) Commit persons convicted of a crime in a county or
municipal jail, specified as appropriate under the standards and procedures
developed pursuant to section nine of this article, for a period not to exceed
fourteen days.
(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 Authority Fund a cost per day for each
incarcerated inmate to be determined by the Regional Jail and Correctional
Facility Authority according to criteria and by procedures established by
legislative rules proposed for promulgation pursuant to article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code and as established in section ten-a of this article
to cover the costs of operating the regional jail facilities of this state to
maintain each inmate The Regional
Jail and Correctional Facility Authority shall determine a per day cost for
each incarcerated inmate, according to procedures established by legislative
rules pursuant to article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code and as
established in section ten-a of this article, to cover the costs of operating
the regional jail facilities of this state to maintain each inmate. The cost shall be paid in the following
manner: Ten percent of the cost to operate all regional jails shall be paid
from the State Treasury beginning on July 1, 2017, eighty-five percent shall be
paid by the county where the inmate allegedly committed the criminal act, and
five percent by the municipality, where applicable, where the inmate allegedly
committed the criminal act. In the event
the alleged criminal act occurred outside of a municipality, the county where
the inmate allegedly committed the criminal act shall pay ninety percent of the
cost of incarceration. The percent of
costs paid by the State Treasury shall increase by ten percent, for five
consecutive years, beginning on July 1, 2017, and continuing on July 1, 2018,
2019, 2020 and 2021, until the state has assumed fifty percent of the costs for
operating the regional jails. The
per diem costs for incarcerating inmates may not include the cost of
construction, acquisition or renovation of the regional jail facilities. Provided, That Each
regional jail facility operating in this state shall keep a record of
the date and time that an inmate is incarcerated. 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. After that, 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. A county shall
be charged one-half the per diem rate for incarcerating a person for less than
twenty-four hours.
(i) Considering that central office employees of the Regional
Jail and Correctional Facility Authority are not covered under the Civil
Service System, the state shall pay one hundred percent of the total budget to
operate the central office, wherever so located, including, but not limited to,
employee salaries and related costs, lease payments, utilities, building and
property insurance coverage, building maintenance and other such costs of
obligations necessary to fully operate the central office facility in its
entirety while maintaining staff.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is
to relieve the burden imposed on counties of incarcerating inmates in regional
jails by changing the way that the cost of incarcerating inmates is collected
so that it is shared by the state and county and municipality where the alleged
criminal act occurs; to reduce the cost of incarceration for less than twenty-four
hours to one-half the daily per diem charge; and to obligate the state to pay
for regional jail operations, including labor and associated expenses.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.