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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Campos

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2-3-06

HB

SHORT TITLE

SAN MIGUEL COUNTY INMATE

REIMBURSEMENT

SB 701

ANALYST Hadwiger

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$298.6

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to several bills that propose state support for county jails around New Mexico.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

Department of Corrections (DOC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 701 appropriates $298.6 thousand from the general fund to the Local Government

Division (LGD) of the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) in FY07 to reimburse

San Miguel County for the cost of housing prisoners who are being held for transfer to another

jurisdiction.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $298.6 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 would revert to

the general fund. DOC reports there would be some additional administrative costs from this

bill.

Senate Bill 701 – Page 2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DFA noted counties currently are required to apprehend and hold violators of state offenses.

These individuals are guilty of violation of state offenses such as parole violations. County offi-

cials have tried unsuccessfully in the past to collect these expenses from the State Dept. of Cor-

rections. The amount of the appropriation ($298,567) is the amount of expenses that San Miguel

County had for offenses in FY05.

DOC noted that exactly what is meant by transfer to another jurisdiction is not clear, but could

include those individuals being sent to a Corrections Department prison.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

DOC indicated there may be a minimal to moderate administrative burden placed on the depart-

ment because it may have to provide certain information (such as the names of inmates being

sent to the Corrections Department) to DFA to help DFA verify the incarceration costs in order

to reimburse the county. DOC will make every reasonable effort to absorb this administrative

burden without adding new staff, but commented that it is difficult to determine the exact amount

of administrative burden placed on the department by this bill. The bill could increase the ad-

ministrative costs associated with the department working with DFA to help DFA verify and

process the county’s bills, and these costs might be significant. There is no appropriation in the

bill to the Department to help offset or absorb these increased administrative costs.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

There are at least 20 bills in the current session that would provide for reimbursement from vari-

ous sources to county jails for housing certain categories of prisoners.

ALTERNATIVES

DOC noted that there are many bills attempting to address a similar challenge facing county jails

and suggested that, perhaps, a better solution would be to adopt a statewide solution such as

those proposed in HB264 and SB419 (which are identical bills) of the current legislative session.

Those two bills appropriate $25 million to DFA to administer and pay for housing certain cate-

gories of prisoners in all of the county jails or facilities.

DH/nt