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

SPONSOR King

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/27/07

HB 357

SHORT TITLE

Enacting the County Detention Facility

Reimbursement Act

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$5,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB 192; Duplicates appropriation in the General Appropriations Act for FY08.

Relates to HB 316 and SB 410.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Corrections

SUMMARY

Enacting the County Detention Facility Reimbursement Act; Providing Reimbursement to

Counties for the Costs of Incarceration of Certain Persons Convicted of a Felony; Creating the

County Detention Facility Reimbursement Fund; Making an Appropriation.

House Bill 357 creates a new County Detention Facility Reimbursement Fund in the State

Treasury, to be administered by, and distributed through, the State Treasurer. The bill

appropriates $5,000,000 from the general fund to the new Fund for expenditure in FY08 and

subsequent years.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $5,000,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 reverts to the General

Fund.

This bill creates a new fund and provides for continuing appropriations. The LFC has concerns

with including continuing appropriation language in the statutory provisions for newly created

funds, as earmarking reduces the ability of the legislature to establish spending priorities.

House Bill 357 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Money in the fund is to be used for reimbursing counties for the incarceration of a “felony

offender." A felony offender is defined as a person convicted of a felony and sentenced to

confinement in a facility designated by the correction department who (1) has been released from

confinement and is a dual supervision offender (on both probation and parole) and has violated

his parole or is charged with a parole violation; or has violated probation or is charged with a

probation violation; or while on parole, is charged with a violation of local, state, tribal, federal

or international law; or (2) has been released from confinement and is serving a parole term and

has violated his parole or is charged with a parole violation; or while on parole, is charged with a

violation of local, state, tribal, federal or international law; or (3) is awaiting transport and

commitment to the corrections department following the revocation of parole or a sentencing

hearing for a felony conviction.

The bill uses a formula to calculate the distribution amount for each county, and requires the

Sentencing Commission to provide certain information to the State Treasurer each year so that

the Treasurer can then distribute the money in the Fund pursuant to the formula. In general,

counties that incarcerate more felony offenders will receive more money out of the Fund (see

below for estimated distribution to counties).

Distribution of Appropriation for County Detention

Distribution

Percent of

Estimated

Cost

Distribution

Percent of

Estimated Cost

BERNALILLO $ 1,175,926 24% MCKINLEY

$

101,042

2%

CATRON

8,590 0% MORA

-

0%

CHAVES

78,727 2% OTERO

128,156

3%

CIBOLA

205,726 4% QUAY

42,190

1%

COLFAX

32,353 1% RIO ARRIBA

88,394

2%

CURRY

147,351 3% ROOSEVELT

44,633

1%

DE BACA

11,449 0% SAN JUAN

394,508

8%

DONA ANA 526,001 11% SAN MIGUEL

100,089

2%

EDDY

178,413 4% SANDOVAL

335,386

7%

GRANT

51,514 1% SANTA FE

499,710

10%

GUADALUPE 18,044 0% SIERRA

8,223

0%

HARDING - 0% SOCORRO

28,459

1%

HIDALGO 23,456 0% TAOS

34,667

1%

LEA

283,170 6% TORRANCE

78,307

2%

LINCOLN

82,826 2% UNION

5,992

0%

LOS ALAMOS 26,675 1% VALENCIA

3%

House Bill 357 – Page

3

148,870

LUNA

81,152 2%

* Mora and Harding Counties use San Miguel or De Baca facilities.

Total Amount Distributed Using NMSC

Formula

$ 4,970,000

NMSC Data Maintenance

30,000

TOTAL APPROPRIATION

$ 5,000,000

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

Instead of requiring that the Corrections Department administer the fund, HB 357 requires that

the State Treasurer administer the fund and pay the counties for the incarceration costs of

housing certain offenders. The Corrections Department has previously suggested that the Local

Government Division of DFA administer the fund, and agrees that the fund would be best

administered by DFA or the State Treasurer. The Corrections Department reports that the bill

may increase the Corrections Department’s administrative or fiscal costs, as discussed below in

the Administrative Implications section.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The Corrections Department reports that the bill could have no or only a minimal administrative

effect on the Department since the State Treasure will administer the fund and pay the bills.

However, if the State Treasurer routinely requests a large amount of information from the

Corrections Department in an attempt to ensure that the counties are properly counting the

number of felony offenders they are incarcerating, this could place a negative administrative

burden on the Department. The bill appropriates no money to the Department to help offset the

administrative costs associated with the Department working with the State Treasurer to help the

Treasurer verify and process the counties’ actual number of felony offenders, and these costs

could be substantial.

However, if the Treasurer is able to perform its duties under this new law without any or

significant input or help from the Corrections Department, there will be no administrative or

fiscal impact on the Department.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

HB 357 duplicates SB 192 and relates to HB 316 and SB 410. Additionally, HB 357 duplicates a

provision of the General Appropriations Act for FY08 which contains a $5,000.0 recurring,

General Fund appropriation for the same purpose.

The major difference between HB 357 and HB 316 is that HB 316 contains a provision

allocating 30 percent of the fund to counties other than Class A counties that are designated by

DFA as needing additional resources due to inadequate base revenues. Additionally, HB 357

calls on the State Treasurer to administer the program while HB 316 administers the program

through the Local Government Division of DFA.

House Bill 357 – Page

4

ALTERNATIVES

A $5,000,000 appropriation is included in the General Appropriations Act for this purpose.

WEP/sb