H. B. 2587
(By Delegates Reynolds and Stephens)
[Introduced February 18, 2009; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §31-20-10 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to capping regional jail per diem
charges at forty-eight dollars and ten cents per day, per
inmate.
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 an 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 is invested in a manner
consistent with the investment of temporary state funds. Interest
earned on any money invested pursuant to this section
shall be is
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 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 use fund amounts necessary
to provide for payment
of
the administrative expenses of this article;
(4) The authority shall
requisition from these funds, after
any requirements of debt service have been satisfied,
the fund
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.
These funds 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 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
contrary article provisions, sums paid into these funds 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 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) 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 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 per diem
costs for incarcerating inmates
shall in no instance exceed forty-
eights dollars and ten cents per day, per inmate and 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to cap the regional jail per
diem charge to forty-eight dollars and ten cents per day, per
inmate.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.