NOTE:  As provided in LFC policy, this report is intended only for use by the standing finance committees of the legislature.  The Legislative Finance Committee does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information in this report when used for other purposes.

 

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

 

 

 

SPONSOR:

Varela

 

DATE TYPED:

03/03/03

 

HB

875

 

SHORT TITLE:

Santa Fe County Teen Court

 

SB

 

 

 

ANALYST:

Hayes

 

APPROPRIATION

 

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY03

FY04

FY03

FY04

 

 

 

$55.0

 

 

Recurring*

General Fund

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

 

Duplicates SB 782

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Department of Health (DOH)

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

 

SUMMARY

 

     Synopsis of Bill

 

House Bill 875 appropriates $55.0 from the general fund to the Local Government Division of the Department of Finance and Administration for the purpose of funding Santa Fe County’s teen court program.

 

     Significant Issues

 

  1. Teen court is a program designed for first-time teen offenders to keep their records clean.  A jury composed of local teens does not decide innocence or guilt of an offender, but assesses the sentence of the offender.  The offender must openly admit commission of a delinquent act in front of the teen jury.  If the offender admits to a delinquent act, accepts the “sentence” of the teen jury and successfully completes it, then the delinquent act is dismissed and the offender pays no fine.

 

  1. According to DOH, there are currently 22 teen courts in operation around New Mexico.  Many of them have received funding from DFA’s DWI grant program; others from county and municipal funding sources.  The Santa Fe County teen may also want to consider applying for funding from DFA’s DWI grant program to support its operations.

 

  1. It may be that local municipal courts are the most appropriate to fund and administer teen court programs since they mainly involve misdemeanor violations.

 

  1. Neither DFA nor AOC provided any information regarding teen court operations in their responses to the LFC.  Therefore, it is unclear whether the funding requested in this bill is a one-time request or if the state has been providing yearly funding to Santa Fe’s teen court through DFA’s Local Government Division.*

 

  1. No performance data has been provided to the LFC regarding the number of teen court participants, rate of teens completing the program, if offenders commit additional delinquent acts, etc.; therefore, the level of success of teen court is unknown.

 

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

 

The appropriation of $55.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.  Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2004 shall revert to the general fund.

 

DUPLICATION

 

SB 782 duplicates this legislation, requesting funding for Santa Fe’s teen court.

 

CMH/prr