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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

HB 876

SHORT TITLE

Torrance County Drug Court

SB

ANALYST C.Sanchez

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$0

$250.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates, Relates to, Conflicts with, Companion to

SB 259 Drug Court Funding & Expansion contains $60.0 for an adult drug court in Socorro or

Torrance County, leaving the county location to the seventh judicial district.

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

The LFC budget recommendation contains $60.0 for an adult drug court in the seventh judicial

district.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts

Corrections Department

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 876 would appropriate $250,000 in general recurring funds to the seventh judicial

district for expenditure in FY08 to implement a drug court in Torrance County. Any unexpended

or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2008 shall revert to the general

fund.

House Bill 876 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

By combining treatment with the coercive power of the judiciary, the drug court model has

repeatedly shown through national studies and statewide performance measures that it

outperforms virtually all other intervention strategies for drug involved offenders: recidivism of

drug court graduates is much less than for similar offenders, the cost-per-client of drug court

participants is significantly less than that for incarceration, and even those who do not

successfully complete a program have a greater chance of long-term success due to the longer

period of treatment received during their involvement in a drug court program.

Because of the success of its drug court programs, the New Mexico judiciary continues working

with communities around the state to maintain existing programs as well as establish new drug

court programs. In January 2006, The New Mexico Supreme Court approved a 5-Year Plan for

Growth of New Mexico Drug Courts (available at www.nmadcp.org). That plan has two main

goals: (1) to implement a drug court program in every county of the state (there are currently

programs in 18 of the state’s 33 counties); while (2) providing a predictable and stable funding

request to the legislature each year of the plan. FY08 will be the second year of the 5-Year Plan.

The judiciary reviewed over $3.25 million in drug court requests from courts around the state in

preparation for this legislative session, but by applying the priorities outlined in the 5-Year Plan,

and focusing on those courts with the greatest need and best preparation to implement state

funds, the judiciary was able to reduce the overall requests to match the $1.35 million funding

cap for FY08 set by the plan.

Neither Socorro nor Torrance counties currently have a drug court program, making requests to

start programs there a high priority under the guidelines of the 5-Year Plan. The seventh judicial

district did request funding to start an adult drug court program in both counties, but with the 5-

Year Plan funding cap and other review criteria in mind, those requests were trimmed to the

$60,000 that is reflected in the judiciary’s unified budget request, as part of Priority 7. The

Judiciary recognizes that $60,000 would not be enough to fully implement a drug court in either

county, but felt the funds could be used to hire a program coordinator who could then work

towards full program implementation in whichever county the seventh judicial district court

determines to focus its efforts.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

SB 876 would allow the Seventh Judicial District court to implement and administer a Drug

Court program.

The Correction Department’s probation and parole programs could be stressed or impaired by

increases in drug court clients that require probation/parole supervision. Typically, probation and

parole officers are required to spend more time with drug court participants, i.e., more drug

testing, more time spent on case management and more time spent in court appearances

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

SB 259 Drug Court Funding & Expansion contains $60,000 for an adult drug court in Socorro or

Torrance County, leaving the county location to the seventh judicial district.

House Bill 876 – Page

3

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The seventh judicial district reports that drug and alcohol cases are prevalent throughout their

district, with methamphetamine abuse growing substantially in the last few years. The seventh

judicial district court believes its drug court programs will be collaborative, sustainable programs

that will increase public safety, build community trust, and develop healthier families and

communities.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Drug offenders will not receive the treatment and attention they need. Thus, they may violate

their probation conditions and be sent back to prison.

CS/nt