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| SPONSOR: | Pinto | DATE TYPED: | 02/06/01 | HB | |||
| SHORT TITLE: | Spiritual Counseling for Incarcerated Adults | SB | 294 | ||||
| ANALYST: | Trujillo | ||||||
| Recurring
or Non-Rec |
Fund
Affected | ||||
| FY01 | FY02 | FY01 | FY02 | ||
| $ 85.0 | Recurring | GF | |||
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates HB345, relates to HB361
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Corrections Department (CD)
Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
SB294 appropriates $85,000 from the general fund to CD for expenditure in FY 2002 to contract to provide culturally competent counselors and advisors to provide spiritual counseling pursuant to the Native American Counseling Act to adults incarcerated in state correctional facilities. Any unexpended balance remaining at the end of FY 2002 reverts to the general fund.
Significant Issues
CD reports the department sometimes encounters difficulty in obtaining sufficient and adequate volunteers to provide spiritual counseling to Native Americans. SB294 would provide CD with funding so the department would not need to rely solely upon volunteers to provide Native Americans with spiritual counseling.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
CD is transitioning into performance-based budgeting. SB294 does not propose additional performance measures.
CD reports SB294 could improve the performance of the Department's prison programs if the spiritual counseling resulted in an improvement in the morale of Native American inmates, resulted in a decrease in misconduct by Native American inmates, or resulted in a lower recidivism rate among this group of inmates.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $85.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY02 shall revert to the general fund.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
According to CD, SB294 will result in a slight increase in the administrative burden upon the Department's procurement personnel who will be required to use the standard procurement process to obtain the required contractors.
CONFLICT/DUPLICATION/COMPANIONSHIP/RELATIONSHIP
CYFD reports the bill relates to HB361 - (Culturally Competent Spiritual Counselors for Juveniles), in that it is the equivalent bill for incarcerated adults.
LAT/njw