H. B. 2654
(
By Delegates Webster, Boggs, Campbell, Eldridge, Fragale,
Hutchins, Manchin, Perry, Schadler, Tabb and White)
[Introduced February 18, 2009; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §31-20-10a of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended; relating to allocation of costs
for housing inmates who are transferred to the custody of the
division of corrections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §31-20-10a of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
AUTHORITY.
§31-20-10a. Criteria and procedures for determining the cost per
day for inmates incarcerated in facilities operated
by the authority and allocating cost.
(a) This section applies to the regional jail and correctional
facility authority, counties, municipalities, the division of
corrections, the United States marshal service, the United States
bureau of prisons and any other entity by whose authority inmates are incarcerated and maintained in facilities operated by the
authority.
(b)(1) The authority shall develop and approve a schedule of
anticipated operational expenditures for each regional jail. The
schedules shall include funds for personal services and fringe
benefits for personnel necessary to the operation of the
facilities, as well as allocations of funds for food, clothing,
utilities, supplies, transportation and all other costs necessary
to operate and maintain the facilities. The operational
expenditure schedule shall include all costs, both direct and
indirect, for operating and maintaining the regional jail. The
authority shall develop and approve an operational expenditure
schedule for each regional jail on an annual basis, consistent with
the state fiscal year.
(2) If the actual operational costs exceed the approved
schedule of operational expenditures by more than ten percent in a
line item, the authority's executive director shall add a temporary
surcharge to the cost per inmate day in an amount sufficient to
cover the actual expenditures.
(c) The county is responsible for costs incurred by the
authority for housing and maintaining inmates in its facilities who
have not been committed to the custody of the commissioner of
corrections.
(d) The county is responsible for the costs incurred by the
authority for housing and maintaining inmates who, prior to sentencing, are awaiting transportation to a state correctional
facility for a sixty-day evaluation period as provided in section
seven, article twelve, chapter sixty-two of this code.
(e) The division of corrections is responsible for the costs
incurred by the authority for housing and maintaining inmates who
have been sentenced to the custody of the division of corrections.
beginning the calendar day following the day the commitment order
was entered into the court record. The division of corrections
shall be responsible for the costs incurred by the authority for
the committed inmate beginning on the date of the sentencing
hearing which committed that inmate to the custody of the division
of corrections. The circuit clerk of the county from which the
commitment order has been entered shall immediately transmit by
facsimile machine an advance copy of the certified commitment order
to the division of corrections and to the regional jail in which
the inmate is confined.
(f) The division of corrections is responsible for the costs
incurred by the authority for housing and maintaining inmates who
have been held on a parole violation warrant.
(g) The division of corrections is responsible for the costs
incurred by the authority for housing and maintaining inmates who
have been returned to a regional jail under court order, except
that the county from which the inmate was charged is responsible
for the per diem costs in the event that a court of competent
jurisdiction sets aside or vacates the order of commitment to the division of corrections, from the date of the order or the return
of the inmate to a regional jail, whichever is later.
(h) The costs incurred by the authority for housing and
maintaining inmates who are being held as fugitives from justice
from another jurisdiction shall be billed to the fugitive's
demanding jurisdiction, except the costs incurred by the authority
for housing and maintaining any person who is arrested and confined
in one of the authority's facilities on the basis of the commission
of a new crime shall be billed to the arresting county until the
pending West Virginia charges have been properly resolved.
(i) Any other entity or jurisdiction, unless otherwise
stipulated in this section, is responsible for any and all costs
associated with housing its inmates in a facility operated by the
authority.