FISCAL NOTE

House Bill 110 as substituted and reported by the Committee on Judiciary: (1) requires the Alabama Department of Corrections, on or before October 1, 2021, to enter into agreements with at least one residential transition center operated by the Board of Pardons and Paroles or at least three counties whose jails will be used for the care and housing of parole and probation violators; (2) requires the Department to pay the counties the agreed upon daily housing rate plus 20% to house parole and probation violators; and (3) provides that the Department is responsible for the health care costs of parole and probation violators and inmates awaiting transfer to the Department’s custody. These provisions will increase the financial obligations of the Department by: (1) an estimated $23 per day according to the Association of County Commissioners for each parolee and probationer in the custody of a consenting county jail; (2) an undetermined amount to reimburse counties for health care costs of parole and probation violators incurred while in the custody of a consenting county jail; (3) an undetermined amount for increased costs of liability insurance premiums attributed to the increased state inmate population housed in county jails; and (4) an undetermined amount to house parole and probation violators in at least one residential transition center.

This bill provides that if the Legislature does not make a specific appropriation to the Department sufficient to reimburse the counties for health care costs of probation and parole violators, those individuals may not be delivered to the custody of a county facility until the State Finance Director certifies the availability of sufficient funds for reimbursement.

Also, this bill will increase the administrative obligations of the Department by requiring the Department, in consultation with the Association of County Commissions and the Alabama Sheriffs Association, to develop an application and memorandum of agreement no later than October 1, 2021 between the Department and county jails to house and care for parolees and probationers charged with, sanctioned, or that have had their parole or probation revoked. Further, the provisions of this bill could increase the obligations of the county liability self-insurance fund, by an undetermined amount, dependent upon the number of claims paid due to the expanded liability coverage permitted by this bill.

In addition, this bill could increase the obligations of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, by an undetermined amount, to establish and maintain at least one residential transition center to house parole and probation violators in accordance with the provisions of this bill.

Finally, this bill would allow a parole violator to have his or her term of confinement in a state correctional facility reduced by the amount of time spent in holding in a county jail or residential transition center, or other place of detention pending the imposition of the period of confinement. This could decrease the obligations of: (1) the Department of Corrections, by an undetermined amount, dependent upon the number of parole violators currently in county jails that would have time spent holding in a county jail, pending the imposition of the period of confinement, count towards the mandatory 45-day period of confinement for a parole violation; (2) the number of potential parole violators that would have time spent holding in a residential transition center or other place of detention per day the imposition of the period of confinement count towards the mandatory 45-day period of confinement for a parole violation; and (3) county jails, also by an undetermined amount, dependent upon the number of parole violators that currently spend more than the mandatory 45-day confinement period in the county jail in holding before being transferred to a state facility and the number of parole violators that could spend up to 45 days before being released or transferred to a state facility.