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

SPONSOR Rehm

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/25/08

HB 410

SHORT TITLE Reimburse Counties for Housing Felony Inmates

SB

ANALYST Peery-Galon

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$30,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

FY10

$30.000.0

Recurring County Detention Facility

Reimbursement Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY08

FY09

FY10 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$0.1

$0.1

$0.1 Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD)

No Responses Received From

Department of Finance Administration (DFA)

State Treasurer’s Office (STO)

Association of Counties (AOC)

House Bill 410 – Page

2

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 410 appropriates $30,000.0 from the general fund to the County Detention Facility

Reimbursement Fund, for expenditure in fiscal year 2009 and subsequent years, to reimburse

counties for housing felony offenders as provided in the County Detention Facility

Reimbursement Act.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $30,000.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert

to the general fund.

NMCD states if the fund is adequately funded as of result of the proposed legislation, the bill

may have a minimal to moderate fiscal impact on the department. NMCD states an adequately

funded fund would essentially forever remove any liability or obligations of the department to

have to pay the counties for these ongoing, substantial incarceration costs.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The County Detention Facility Reimbursement Fund was created last year, and is to be

administered by the Local Government Division of the Department of Finance Administration.

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

offender." NMCD states a felony offender is defined as a person convicted of a felony and

sentenced to confinement in a facility designated by the New Mexico Corrections 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;

2.

Has been released from confinement and is serving a parole term and has violated his/her

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 commitment to the New Mexico Corrections Department

following the revocation of parole or a sentencing hearing for a felony conviction.

The distribution is based primarily on a formula developed by the New Mexico Sentencing

Commission (NMSC). The formula has an additional amount set aside for smaller counties with

demonstrated need. NMSC developed a methodology for distributing to counties based on the

ratio of a county’s eligible offenders and all eligible offenders. Thirty-thousand from the fund

goes to NMSC to maintain the data for the formula. NMSC provides the Local Government

Division a list of counties with the appropriate share of the distribution.

In the 2007 legislative session, a $5 million appropriation of recurring general fund dollars was

appropriated to the fund. NMCD states many counties appear to believe that $5 million is not

sufficient to cover the total annual cost of incarcerating felony offenders. NMCD notes that at

House Bill 410 – Page

3

least one county, Bernalillo County, is hesitating to go through the fund, and instead is seeking

payment directly from the Corrections Department for at least some of these costs.

NMCD reports that adding money to the fund is likely to ensure that all counties receive full

payment through the fund, and reduce the likelihood that the counties will instead try to directly

bill the department for these costs. NMCD notes the adding of more money to the fund would

make the department more comfortable with the possibility of having to relinquish the $1 million

it has been appropriated annually to pay counties for housing parole violators. NMCD states it

has wanted to keep this yearly appropriation in the event that the money in the fund is

insufficient to pay all the counties and if counties seek direct payment from the department for

the difference.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMCD states if the proposed legislation results in no counties seeking direct payment from the

department for these incarceration costs, then the department’s administrative burden will be

decreased by a minimal to moderate degree. When counties seek direct payment from the New

Mexico Corrections Department, the department must make sure that each offender housed in a

county jail is a parole violator or dual supervision violator, and verify that the offender was

actually in jail on the days the county claims. NMCD notes they have requested that all counties

go through the fund and not seek payment directly from the department; however, Bernalillo

County has been hesitant to comply with this request.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

House Bill 410 has a relationship to House Bill 417.

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