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

SPONSOR Martinez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/27/07

HB

SHORT TITLE

Enacting the County Detention Facility

Reimbursement Act

SB 192

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)

Relates to HB 316 and SB 410

Duplicates HB 357

Duplicates an appropriation in the General Appropriation Act for $5,000.0.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

NM Department of Corrections

SUMMARY

Enacting the County Detention Facility Reimbursement Act; Providing Reimbursement to Coun-

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

Detention Facility Reimbursement Fund; Making an Appropriation.

Senate Bill 192 creates a new County Detention Facility Reimbursement Fund in the State

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

ates $5,000.0 from the General Fund to the new Fund for expenditure in FY08 and subsequent

years. Money in the Fund may not be used for administration of the Fund.

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.

Senate Bill 192 – Page

2

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.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

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

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

finement 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 com-

mitment to the Corrections Department following the revocation of parole or a sentencing hear-

ing 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

table below for estimated distribution to counties).

Distribution of Appropriation for County Detention:

Distribution

Percent of

Estimated

Cost

Distribution

Percent of Esti-

mated 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%

Senate Bill 192 – Page

3

LINCOLN

82,826 2% UNION

5,992

0%

LOS ALAMOS 26,675 1% VALENCIA

148,870

3%

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, SB 192 requires that

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

ing certain offenders. The Corrections Department has previously suggested that the Local Gov-

ernment Division of DFA administer the Fund, and agrees that the Fund would be best adminis-

tered by DFA or the State Treasurer. The Corrections Department reports that the bill may in-

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

Administrative Implications section.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The Corrections Department reports that SB 192 bill could have no or only minimal administra-

tive 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 Cor-

rections 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 administra-

tive 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 sub-

stantial.

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

any significant input or help from the Corrections Department, there will little administrative or

fiscal impact on the Department.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The bill excludes $30,000 from the total amount of money in the Fund each year that the coun-

ties can receive. It appears that this money is intended to be used by the Sentencing Commission

to perform its duties under the law. This should be clarified in the bill.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

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

provision of the General Appropriations Act for FY08 which contains a $5,000,000 recurring,

General Fund appropriation for the same purpose.

Senate Bill 192 – Page

4

The major difference between SB 192 and SB 410 is that SB 410 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. Also, SB 410 identifies the Local

Government Division of DFA to administer the program instead of the State Treasurer.

WEP/sb