SB371 HFIN AMT 4-9
S. B. 371 -- "A Bill to
amend and reenact §25-1-15 of the Code
of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §28-5-27
of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto two new
sections, designated §31-20-5g and §31-20-5h; to amend and reenact
§61-7-6 of said code; to amend and reenact §62-11A-1a of said code;
to amend and reenact §62-11B-9 of said code; to amend and reenact
§62-11C-2, §62-11C-3 and §62-11C-6 of said code; to amend said code
by adding thereto a new section, designated §62-11C-10; to amend
and reenact §62-12-6, §62-12-7, §62-12-9, §62-12-10, §62-12-13,
§62-12-14a, §62-12-15, §62-12-17 and §62-12-19 of said code; to
amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated
§62-12-29; to amend and reenact §62-15-2
and §62-15-4
of said code;
and to amend said code by adding thereto two new sections,
designated §62-15-6a and §62-15-6b, all relating to public safety;
requiring the Division of Corrections to perform graduated methods
of mental health screens, appraisals and evaluations on persons
committed to its custody; eliminating requirement for separate
disciplinary rules at each institution; mandating one year of
supervised release for violent inmates and deducting one year of
their good time; authorizing judges to require up to one hundred
eighty days of a nonviolent offender's sentence to be served as
post-release mandatory supervision; setting an effective date for
supervised release provisions; requiring the Commissioner of Corrections to adopt policies regarding mandatory supervised
release; requiring the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional
Facility Authority to use a standardized pretrial risk-screening
instrument adopted by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
to screen persons arrested and placed in a regional jail; providing
for the confidentiality of risk assessments and their
inadmissability at criminal and civil trials; requiring the
Division of Corrections to develop and implement a cognitive
behavioral program for inmates in regional jails committed to the
custody of the Commissioner of Corrections and requiring the
Division of Corrections to pay its cost; exempting parole officers
from prohibitions against carrying concealed weapons; moving
definition of "day report center" to section relating to conditions
of release on probation; providing standards and limitations under
which judges and magistrates may impose a period of supervision or
participation in day report program; clarifying language regarding
confinement and revocation for violations of the conditions of home
incarceration; adding representative of the Bureau for Behavioral
Health and Health Facilities to the community corrections
subcommittee of the Governor's Committee on Crime, Delinquency and
Correction; requiring that the community corrections subcommittee
review, assess and report on the implementation of evidence-based
practices in the criminal justice system; adding member with a
background in substance abuse treatment and services to the community criminal justice boards to be appointed by the Commission
or Commissions of the county or counties represented by the board;
providing oversight responsibility to Division of Justice and
Community Services to implement standardized risk and needs
assessment, evaluate effectiveness of other modifications to
community corrections programs and provide annual report; requiring
probation officers to conduct a standardized risk and needs
assessment for individuals placed on probation and to supervise
probationer and enforce probation according to assessment and
supervision standards adopted by the West Virginia Supreme Court of
Appeals; requiring probation officers to perform random drug and
alcohol tests of persons under their supervision; authorizing the
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to adopt a standardized
risk and needs assessment for use by probation officers;
authorizing the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to adopt
a standardized pretrial screening instrument for use by the
Regional Jail Authority; providing standards and limitations under
which judges may impose a term of reporting to a day report center
as a condition of probation; authorizing day report center programs
to provide services based on the results of a person's standardized
risk and needs assessment; providing for graduated sanctions in
response to violations of the conditions of release on probation
other than absconding, committing certain new criminal conduct or
violating special condition of probation; creating exceptions to new criminal conduct provisions; making standardized risk and needs
assessments confidential court documents; requiring copies of
graduated sanctions confinement orders be supplied to the
Commissioner of Corrections; providing that graduated sanctions
confinement be paid by the Division of Corrections; providing that
judges may depart from graduated sanctions limitations upon
specific written findings; revising eligibility requirements for
accelerated parole program; providing that parole applications may
be considered by the parole board without prior submission a home
plan; requiring that Division of Corrections' policies and
procedures for developing a rehabilitation treatment plan include
the use of substance abuse assessment tools and prioritize
treatment resources based on the risk and needs assessment and
substance abuse assessment results; providing for rebuttable
presumption that parole is appropriate for inmates completing the
accelerated parole program and a rehabilitation treatment program;
providing standards and limitations for Parole Board; outlining
duties of the Division of Corrections to supervise, treat and
provide support services for persons released on mandatory
supervised release; removing temporal standard for requirement that
the Parole Board have access to a copy of an inmate's physical,
mental or psychiatric examination;
clarifying the Parole Board's
duty to notify prosecuting attorneys of an offender's release on
parole
; authorizing Division of Corrections to employ directors of housing and employment for released inmates with duties relating to
the reduction of parole release delays and finding employment;
requiring parole officers to update the standardized risk and needs
assessment for each person for whom an assessment has not been
conducted for parole and to supervise each person according to the
assessment and the commissioner's supervision standards;
authorizing the Commissioner of Corrections to issue a certificate
authorizing an eligible parole officer to carry firearms or
concealed weapons; providing standards and limitations under which
the Division of Corrections may order substance abuse treatment or
impose a term of reporting to a day report center or other
community corrections program as a condition or modification of
parole; authorizing the Commissioner of Corrections to enter into
a master agreement with the Division of Justice and Community
Services to reimburse counties for use of the community corrections
programs; clarifying that parolee participation in community
corrections is at program director's discretion; providing for
graduated sanctions in response to violations of the conditions of
release on parole other than absconding, certain new criminal
conduct or violating a special condition of parole; providing a
parolee with the right to a hearing, upon request, regarding
whether he or she violated the conditions of his or her release on
parole; providing the authority for the Board of Parole to depart
from graduated sanction; providing that graduated sanctions incarceration for parolees be paid for by Division of Corrections;
providing for a Community Supervision Committee to be appointed by
the Administrative Director of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West
Virginia to coordinate the sharing of information for community
supervision and requiring an annual report; revising definitions
for Drug Offender Accountability and Treatment Act; requiring all
judicial circuits to participate in a drug court or regional drug
court program by July 1, 2016; providing standards and limitations
under which judges may order treatment supervision for drug
offenders; providing that a judge may order a period of confinement
to encourage compliance with treatment supervision to be paid b the
division of Correction for up to thirty days for each instance;
requiring the Division of Justice and Community Services to use
appropriated funds to implement substance abuse treatment to serve
those under treatment supervision in each judicial circuit;
providing that the Division of Justice and Community Services in
consultation with the Governor's Advisory Committee on Substance
Abuse is responsible for developing standards relating to quality
and delivery of substance abuse services; requiring certain
education and training; paying for drug abuse assessments and
certified drug treatment from appropriated funds; requiring
submittal of an annual report and specifying an effective date;
outlining duties of treatment supervision service providers;
providing effective dates for provisions related to treatment supervision; providing for state payment of drug court
participants' incarceration under certain circumstances; defining
terms; and making technical changes
."