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

SPONSOR Cote

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/18/08

2/11/08 HB 33/aSJC

SHORT TITLE Domestic Violence Treatment Fund Uses

SB

ANALYST Lucero

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

FY10

($0.01)

($0.01)

Recurring

Domestic

Violence

Offender

Treatment Fund

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY08

FY09

FY10 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$0.01

$0.01

$0.01

$0.01 Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act: The LFC recommendation for

CYFD included an increase of $1 million for domestic violence prevention services.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD)

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Adult Parole Board

State Treasurer’s Office (STO)

New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Senate Judiciary Committee Amendment

Senate Judiciary Committee amendment to House Bill 33 amends 31-12-11, NMSA 1978 to

include the change of the name of the current Domestic Violence (DV) Offender Treatment Fund

House Bill 33/aSJC – Page

2

to the Domestic Violence Offender Treatment or Intervention Fund

in a section of the statute not

previously addressed in the original bill.

The amendment also clarifies an existing section of the statute to exclude voluntary domestic

violence offenders who are participating in a treatment program paid through the domestic

violence offender treatment or intervention fund from having to provide monthly written reports

to a presiding judge and probation or parole officer on progress being made.

The amendment corrects technical issues not previously identified in the original bill without

much impact to the courts or CYFD.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 33 amends 31-12-12, NMSA 1978 to change the name of the current Domestic

Violence (DV) Offender Treatment Fund to the Domestic Violence Offender Treatment or

Intervention Fund

. The bill also inserts the word “intervention" throughout the existing statute.

The bill also broadens the definition of “domestic violence offender" to include persons who:

•

are referred to the program by a judge, DV special commissioner or the parole board; or

•

who volunteer to participate in the program.

The bill authorizes the transfer of funds from the old fund into the new fund.

Finally, House Bill 33 repeals Secs. 34-15-1 and 34-15-2 (NMSA 1978) which also contain

language assessing the fees and setting up the fund, as they are repetitive of Secs. 31.12.11 and

31.12.12.

The effective date of the bill is July 1, 2008

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There is no appropriation contained in this bill.

The revenue for the Domestic Violence Offender Treatment Fund is generated from a five dollar

“domestic violence offender treatment fee" that is assessed in district court, metropolitan court

and magistrate court, from a person convicted of a penalty assessment misdemeanor, traffic

violation, petty misdemeanor, misdemeanor or felony offense.

The AOC states that there will be a minimal administrative cost for statewide update, distribution

and documentation of statutory changes.

The Parole Board states that House Bill 33 may serve to indirectly increase the availability of

community services for DV providers and other victim-related services. The latter may benefit

from increased sources of funding because DV services, which were previously billed to regular

treatment resources, will now be provided for through the specialized DV fund, freeing up extra

monies.

New Mexico Corrections Department states that since the bill will likely result in more offenders

getting treatment or intervention services for domestic violence problems (probationers and

House Bill 33/aSJC – Page

3

parolees who volunteer or who are referred by a judge or the parole board), it may slightly

reduce recidivism rates and thus the prison population and probation/parole caseloads.

The contract/private prison annual cost of incarcerating an inmate is $25,455 per year for males.

The cost per client to house a female inmate at a privately operated facility is $25,805 per year.

Because state owned prisons are essentially at capacity, any net increase in inmate population

will be housed at a contract/private facility.

The cost per client in Probation and Parole for a standard supervision program is $1,019 per year.

The cost per client in Intensive Supervision programs is $5,151 per year. The cost per client in

Community Corrections is $4,589 per year. The cost per client per year for male and female

residential Community Corrections programs is $25,593.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

CYFD strongly supports House Bill 33 which seeks to reduce the occurrence of domestic

violence by increasing access to offender treatment and intervention services. Domestic violence

transcends all ethnic, racial and socio-economic boundaries. A 2005 statewide victimization

survey revealed that one in three New Mexico women and one in seven New Mexico men were

victims of domestic violence. The same 2005 survey also indicated that more than 201,267

incidents of domestic violence were reported to have occurred in New Mexico, but only 14% of

these incidents were reported to law enforcement. In 2006, approximately 4,766 children were

present at the scene of family violence.

The current language in Statute 31-12-12 only references “treatment" services. At present,

programs working with domestic violence offenders provide psycho-educational groups that

educate offenders on the cycle of violence and the importance of taking responsibility for their

behavior. Changes in the language will allow programs to conduct psycho-educational groups

with both degreed and non-degreed individuals, which are considered a promising practice with

offenders. The revised language would allow more rural areas, which have difficulty hiring

licensed treatment providers, to provide intervention services for offenders.

The current language in Statute 31-12-12 limits access to DV offender treatment funds to

individuals who are convicted for an offense pursuant to the provisions of the Crimes Against

Household Members Act or violation of a protection order. Often times these offenses are

pleaded down to lesser charges which makes the individual ineligible for treatment or

intervention services under this funding. With the changes in the language to referrals from

judges; domestic violence special commissioners; the parole board; or self-referrals, providers

will be able to provide intervention and treatment options to a larger, underserved population,

which will result in enhanced safety for victims and children.

The amount of funding available for any particular year is based on the revenues generated

through fees collected from offenders by the judicial system. The expansion of the individuals

who may receive services from the DV treatment fund, without an increase in the associated fee,

may result in some referred individuals not being able to receive services or being placed on a

waiting list. Agencies who receive awards from CYFD’s other domestic violence funding

streams would be able to use this additional funding to supplement the services to domestic

violence offenders. In FY07, approximately 3,200 offenders received services from 25 agencies

with CYFD funding.

House Bill 33/aSJC – Page

4

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

CYFD is currently capturing performance outcomes related to the percent of batterers who

complete an offender treatment program. This bill would increase the number of domestic

violence offenders eligible to participate in a treatment or intervention program.

Probation and parole supervision services could be improved by providing probation and parole

officers with another avenue they can utilize to help obtain domestic violence treatment for

probationers and parolees needing that treatment.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

CYFD will continue to provide contract administration and monitoring for domestic violence

programs including programs that offer offender prevention and intervention services.

More treatment options for domestic violence give probation and parole officers more tools to

use in supervising offenders with domestic violence problems. Domestic violence is a common

problem among probationers and parolees.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

Relates to the General Appropriation Act (GAA or HB2), the LFC recommended an increase of

$1 million for domestic violence services. The source of the increase is the Temporary

Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

In 2004, New Mexico ranked in the top six states of 30 reporting in percentages of domestic

violence cases. It is important also to note that Native American women experience the violent

crime of battering at a rate of 23 per 1,000, compared with 8 per 1,000 among Caucasian women.

AOC understands that the concept in HB 33 has been approved by the governor’s domestic

violence leadership team.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Offenders that have not yet been charged or convicted for domestic violence may not have

access to needed prevention and intervention services.

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