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committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

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

SPONSOR Stewart

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/30/07

2/24/07 HB 233/aHHGAC/aHAFC

SHORT TITLE

Prerelease Benefits Assistance Act

SB

ANALYST Weber

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$240.0

$240.0 Recurring General

Fund

$360.0

$360.0 Recurring Federal

Funds

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Corrections (NMCD)

Public Defender (PD)

Human Services Department (HSD)

Adult Parole Board (APB)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of the HAFC Amendment

The House Appropriations and Finance Committee amendment made the following changes.

1. On page 1, line 17, strike “; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION".

2. On page 8, strike Section 8 in its entirety.

Striking Section 8 eliminates the $225 thousand appropriation. However, this does not eliminate

the fiscal impact noted in the original and HHGAC amended version of HB 233. To account for

the continuing expenditure requirement the ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING

BUDGET IMPACT section is left intact while the APPROPRIATION and REVENUE sections

are deleted.

House Bill 233/aHHGAC/aHAFC – Page

2

Synopsis of the HHGAC Amendment

The substantial change resulting from the amendment is to eliminate the “other detention or

confinement facility" in the definition of incarcerated. Then the facilities are more closely

defined to just prisons and state juvenile facilities. HSD then estimates 9 as a reasonable number

of additional caseworkers. This puts the annual cast at an approximate total of $600 thousand.

With a federal matching rate of 60 percent the annual general fund cost would be $240 thousand.

In addition, the amendment clears up technical issues pointed out by HSD.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 233 appropriates $225 thousand from the general fund to the Human Services

Department for the purpose of implementing the Prerelease Benefits Assistance Act.

This act facilitates the community reintegration of persons with mental disorders or

developmental disabilities upon their release from jail, prison, detention centers or other

correctional facilities. It would enable released persons to receive entitled benefits promptly

upon their release from incarceration.

The New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD), Children, Youth and Families Department

(CYFD), and facility administrators are required to take reasonable action to negotiate prerelease

agreements with local offices of the federal social security administration to ensure that

applications for supplemental security income (SSI) benefits and social security disability

income (SSDI) benefits are promptly processed. Prerelease agreements shall be negotiated

within 90 days of the effective date of this act. Agreements shall ensure (1) prompt

consideration of applications, and (2) the social security administration is informed of the actual

release date of persons covered under this act.

The bill requires the Human Services Department (HSD) in conjunction with NMCD, CYFD and

facility administrators to ensure reinstatement of social security disability benefits, supplemental

social security benefits, and Medicaid benefits during the month of a person’s release. With the

person’s permission, persons covered under this act shall be given an application for

reinstatement of benefits and provided assistance in completing and filing it at least 30 days prior

to release. This assistance is to be provided by competent staff familiar with the characteristics

of successful applications throughout the application process.

For persons covered by this act that have been terminated from or not enrolled in SSI, SSDI,

and/or Medicaid, HSD, in conjunction with NMCD and CYFD, shall establish benefit

application procedures in anticipation of release within thirty days from the date of receipt of the

application. If the person is determined eligible for benefits, the person must be enrolled in the

program while incarcerated and provided proper documentation to enable the person to receive

benefits upon release.

The bill requires NMCD and CYFD to provide persons covered under this act with photo

identification upon release.

If implementation of the Prerelease Benefits Assistance Act requires an amendment to the

House Bill 233/aHHGAC/aHAFC – Page

3

Medicaid state plan, HSD shall apply for such an amendment within ninety days of the effective

date of the act and take reasonable actions to obtain federal approval of the amendment.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $225 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of Fiscal Year 2008 shall

revert to the general fund.

In addition HSD notes.

Program costs and administrative costs would increase, as more eligible individuals would

receive benefits such as Medicaid.

HB233 implies the “Prerelease Benefits Assistance Act" applies to any incarcerated individual

confined in a public or private prison, juvenile detention facility or other detention facility.

There is no designation of limitation of the facilities and this would have a significant

administrative impact for HSD caseworkers throughout the state for assisting with the

application process prior to release and determining eligibility. Without further definition to

limit the number of facilities, HB 233 could apply to all jails in the state. If so, HSD would need

significantly more FTE to carry out HB233 and the appropriation in this bill is inadequate.

If the bill were amended to implement HB233 for just prison and CYFD detention facilities and

not “other detention or confinement facility, HSD would need 9 additional FTE. This would

provide additional caseworkers near locations of prison and CYFD detention facilities in NM

that include Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Farmington, Las Cruces, Grants, Hobbs, Los Lunas, and

Santa Rosa. Aside from staff salaries, HSD would incur startup costs for purchase of purchase of

nine laptop computers and network access, travel, and supplies. This would be paid for from the

$225.0 appropriation.

LFC estimates that 9 FTE plus other costs would amount to an approximate total of $600

thousand annually. With a federal matching rate of 60 percent the annual general fund cost

would be $240 thousand. Without the limitation on covered facilities the cost would be much

higher. A potential number could be one extra FTE per county office or 22 FTE in addition to

the 9. This would increase the annual cost to approximately $825 thousand from the general

fund and $1.24 million in matching federal funds.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

HSD reports the following issues.

Section 2 DEFINITIONS includes a definition for “suspended". The term “suspended is not

used elsewhere in the act and should not be included as part of definitions as suspension of

benefits for Medicaid and Food Stamps is not allowed under federal regulations. The definition

also references food stamps that are not mentioned elsewhere in the act. As this is the only

reference to the term suspend and the only reference to the Food Stamp Program. It is unclear

why the definition is developed and not used within the act.

The Social Security Administration’s SSI program does allow for the processing of an SSI

House Bill 233/aHHGAC/aHAFC – Page

4

application several months before an individual’s anticipated discharge or release from a public

institution. A pre-release agreement can be developed between an institution and the local Social

Security office.

HSD can only furnish the proper documentation to eligible households once a determination has

been made that the applicant household is eligible to participate in the Food Stamp or Medicaid

Program and is contingent on the anticipated household circumstance the individual may be in

upon release.

It is not apparent whether or not the special identification (including photo ID) of a person with a

mental illness is a violation of that person's civil rights. Although the bill provides for getting

permission from the individual, it may raise ADA issues.

The identification and pre-release application process remains contingent on the timely and

coordinated notice of release by the corrections department.

The Human Services Department has been a part of the HJM 53 multi-agency task force,

convened by NMCD, which is studying barriers to, among other things, public benefits. As part

of that initiative, HSD has established protocols to expedite application processing in

coordination with NMCD Discharge Planners and other personnel as appropriate, to allow them

to assist persons in discharge status.

The bill provides for persons covered under the act to be issued a photo ID upon release to aid in

providing eligibility verification documents. As a result of DRA changes, there are additional

eligibility requirements that must be met for the Medicaid program and applicants or recipients

of Medicaid must also have documentary proof of citizenship as well as identification.

The state and federal government currently approve eligibility for SSI and other entitlement

based programs beginning with the first day of the month of application if all factors of

eligibility are met.

Some Medicaid benefits are contingent upon SSI or SSA Disability determination.

MW/mt