Bill Text: MS HB1226 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: "Juvenile Offender Performance Incentive Funding Act"; create.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Failed) 2012-03-06 - Died In Committee [HB1226 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2012-HB1226-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Representative Flaggs
House Bill 1226
AN ACT TO CREATE THE "JUVENILE OFFENDER PERFORMANCE INCENTIVE FUNDING ACT"; TO PROVIDE THE DIVISION OF YOUTH SERVICES SHALL ANNUALLY CALCULATE JUVENILE INCARCERATION SAVINGS; TO REQUIRE THE LEGISLATURE TO ANNUALLY APPROPRIATE SUCH SAVINGS; TO REQUIRE THAT THE SAVINGS BE EXPENDED FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES; TO REQUIRE THAT CERTAIN REPORTS BE MADE REGARDING SUCH SAVINGS; TO PROVIDE CERTAIN DEFINITIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Juvenile Offender Performance Incentive Funding Act."
SECTION 2. The provisions of this act are intended to reduce recidivism rates in juvenile offenders, while decreasing juvenile correctional costs, by giving local probation departments a share of the savings to the state when they reduce the number of juveniles committed to state custody for incarceration. By linking funding to performance, this legislation creates a positive incentive for local juvenile probation departments to improve their treatment practices for juveniles to both enhance public safety and reduce costs to taxpayers.
SECTION 3. For purposes of this act, the following words and terms shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) "Evidence-based practices" means supervision policies, procedures, programs and practices that scientific research demonstrates reduce recidivism among juveniles on probation, parole, or post-release supervision.
(b) "Supervised juvenile" means a juvenile placed on probation by a court or serving a period of parole or post-release supervision from incarceration.
(c) "Conditions of supervision" means conditions of probation, parole or other form of post-prison supervision.
SECTION 4. The Division of Youth Services within the Department of Human Services shall annually calculate the following:
(a) For each local juvenile probation department, the percentage change in the number of juveniles committed to state custody for incarceration as a ratio of overall referrals to the juvenile probation department for that year. This calculation shall be compared to the fiscal year prior to the fiscal year in which the report is required pursuant to Section 7 of this act.
(b) Any state expenditures that have been avoided by reductions in rates of juveniles committed to state custody for incarceration by each county, as calculated in paragraph (a) of this section.
SECTION 5. (1) Beginning in fiscal year 2013, the legislature shall annually appropriate up to forty-five percent (45%) of any state expenditures that are avoided as calculated in Section 4 of this act. Such averted expenditures shall be appropriated to the county responsible for those savings.
(2) The appropriations in subsection(1) of this section are subject to the following provisions:
(a) None of the calculated savings shall be appropriated annually to the county if there is an increase in the percentage of juveniles adjudicated for a new felony.
(b) Of the state expenditures that have been avoided by a reduction in the proportion of juveniles committed to state custody for incarceration as calculated in Section 4:
(i) Thirty percent (30%)of the total savings shall be appropriated to the state or local agency or agencies;
(ii) An additional five percent (5%)of the total savings shall be appropriated to the county if there is an increase in the percentage of juveniles who are supervised by county and who are employed in a full-time job, employed part-time for at least twenty-five (25) hours per week, or attending school full-time, provided that the agency has submitted data to the Division of Youth Services within the Department of Human Services showing such increases, and the Division of Youth Services includes this information in the report required pursuant to Section 7 of this act;
(iii) An additional five percent (5%) of the total savings shall be appropriated to the county if there is an increase in the percentage of juveniles who are supervised by that county who are current in their payments of victim restitution, provided that the county has submitted data to the Department of Human Services showing such increases and the department includes this information in the report required pursuant to Section 7 of this act;
(iv) An additional five percent (5%) of the total savings shall be appropriated to the county if there is a decrease in the percentage of juveniles who are supervised by that county and who test positive for controlled substances.
(c) The monies appropriated pursuant to this title shall be used to supplement, not supplant, any other state or county appropriations for probation, parole or other post-prison supervision services.
SECTION 6. Monies received through appropriations pursuant to this act shall be used for the following purposes:
(a) Implementation of evidence-based practices;
(b) Increasing the availability of risk reduction programs and interventions, including problem-solving courts, substance abuse treatment programs, family-based treatment programs, and mental health treatment programs, for supervised juveniles;
(c) Grants to nonprofit victim services organizations to partner with the community corrections agencies and courts to assist victims and increase the amount of restitution collected from juvenile probationers.
SECTION 7. (1) On or before October 1 of each year, beginning in 2013, the Mississippi Council of Youth Court Judges and the Division of Youth Services shall jointly report to the Department of Human Services the data necessary for the department to perform the calculations required by Section 4 of this act. The report shall provide separate figures for probation and parole or other form of post-prison supervision and include for the prior fiscal year:
(a) The number of supervised juveniles, by agency; and
(b) The number and percentage of supervised juveniles, by agency, who were committed to state custody for incarceration.
(2) On or before December l of each year, beginning in 2013, the Department of Human Services shall report each year on the implementation of this act to the Lieutenant Governor of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, and the Governor. The report shall include the calculations made pursuant to Section 4 of this act and the resulting performance incentive funding, if any, to be appropriated.
(3) The Department of Human Services shall make its full report and an executive summary available to the general public on its website.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2012.
