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

SPONSOR Jennings

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/21/07

HB

SHORT TITLE 5

th

Judicial District Safehouse Program

SB 1082

ANALYST Leger

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$75.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Administrative Office of District Attorneys (AODA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 1082 appropriates $75 thousand from the general fund to the fifth judicial district

attorney for operations of the safehouse program in Chaves county.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $75 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the

general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to AODA, in 1993 when Esperanza House, the safehouse program in Chaves county,

opened it had one full time employee, and performed 65 forensic interviews in its first full year

of service. At that time, it served only Chaves County. By 2003, the programs had expanded to

include SANE (sexual assault examinations) and other programs, with service not only to

Chaves County, but also to parts of Lincoln, Lea and Eddy Counties, 2 full time employees, 5

Senate Bill 1082 – Page

2

part time employees, and 230 forensic interviews in that year, with 24/7 on-call coverage for

SANE examinations. Although outside funding has been obtained to provide additional

programs, the funding does not cover the increased administrative costs and the extremely high

cost of required insurance.

The Esperanza program provides critical services to victims of sexual assault and to child victims

of crime, by providing a local facility for sexual assault examinations and a safe, non-

intimidating environment for children’s interviews. These facilities are key to successful

prosecution of sexual abuse cases and cases in which children are victims of crime. The rising

number of cases has placed the facility in a cash flow crisis, and the requested appropriation is

needed to meet the increased administrative costs which have resulted from the increased case

load and increased level of services to the community.

JL/mt