SENATE MEMORIAL 47

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

Cisco McSorley

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO SENTENCING COMMISSION AND THE LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE TO COLLABORATE ON DEVELOPING A METHOD FOR MEASURING THE FISCAL IMPACT OF LEGISLATION THAT MODIFIES CRIMINAL PENALTIES.

     WHEREAS, appropriations to the corrections department approached three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000) in fiscal year 2008, representing an increase of more than eleven percent from the previous year; and

     WHEREAS, since 1980, the number of adult prisoners in New Mexico has increased by more than four hundred forty percent, and the corrections department projects an increase of another thirty-seven percent by the year 2016, requiring bed space for approximately nine thousand three hundred sixty-five inmates; and

     WHEREAS, the number of adult prisons has increased since 1980 from one facility to twelve facilities, with a thirteenth facility under construction to house six hundred prisoners this summer; and

     WHEREAS, despite additional facilities in Clayton, Springer and Albuquerque, the corrections department may face overcrowding sometime between 2009 and 2011; and

     WHEREAS, the case loads of probation and parole officers continue to increase, compromising public safety and offender rehabilitation and reentry; and

     WHEREAS, in 2007, a law was enacted requiring real-time global positioning monitoring of all sex offenders on parole, which will cost millions of dollars in technology and additional personnel, and, although some costs were provided in a narrative, no fiscal impact was estimated for that legislation; and

     WHEREAS, fiscal impact reports generated during a legislative session do not account for the fiscal impact of bills that increase or decrease criminal penalties, create new crimes, impose or remove mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment, require specific technology for monitoring probationers or parolees or modify the law in such a way that the time served in prison or on probation or parole increases or decreases; and

     WHEREAS, there are computer models, research and data available that can assist in forecasting the fiscal impact of such legislation;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislative finance committee and the New Mexico sentencing commission be requested to collaborate on establishing a method, if feasible, to measure the fiscal impact of legislation that increases or decreases criminal penalties, creates new crimes, imposes or removes mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment, requires specific technology for monitoring probationers or parolees or modifies the law in such a way that the time served in prison or on probation or parole increases or decreases; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative finance committee and the New Mexico sentencing commission determine what computer models, technology, research, data and personnel are necessary to enable the legislative finance committee to generate fiscal impact reports in a timely manner on legislation that affects criminal penalties; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative finance committee and the New Mexico sentencing commission report the results of their study to the appropriate interim legislative committee during the 2008 interim; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the chair of the legislative finance committee, the chair of the New Mexico sentencing commission, the director of the legislative finance committee and the executive director of the New Mexico sentencing commission.

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