ENGROSSED SENATE
BILL NO. 783	By:	Brecheen and Johnson (Constance) of the Senate

			and

		Faught of the House

An Act relating to the criminal justice system; creating the Drug Court and Community Sentencing Reform Task Force; specifying duties thereof; providing for membership, appointments, meetings, chair, operations and staff support; providing for travel reimbursement; requiring certain report; providing for noncodification; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     NEW LAW     A new section of law not to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes reads as follows:
A.  There is hereby created until November 30, 2012, the Drug Court and Community Sentencing Reform Task Force.  The task force shall have the following duties:
1.  To review and evaluate the operations, efficiency and outcomes of alternatives to incarceration, including but not limited to, drug courts, community sentencing programs and practices, probation and parole, both for adult and juvenile offenders;
2.  To evaluate the feasibility of consolidating the programs specified in paragraph 1 of this subsection at the county or judicial district level;
3.  To determine the cost savings of requiring a single administrator to coordinate the provision of services and the allocation of resources in such programs, including but not limited to a review of Medicaid expenses, the benefits of providing services in-house rather than on a contract basis and the prioritization of mental health and substance abuse treatment tiers;
4.  To evaluate the cost and feasibility of requiring drug court programs in every judicial district of this state, to be provided in conjunction with existing community sentencing programs;
5.  To encourage drug courts and community sentencing program administrators to make use of faith-based counseling programs, both to conserve scarce state and local tax dollars and to provide improved counseling and other services to program participants;
6.  To assess the feasibility and cost savings of providing services similar to those offered to drug court participants to parolees, persons sentenced to probation and persons released early from incarceration;
7.  To look into the provision of drug court services in rural areas of this state, particularly with respect to the possibility of utilizing local law enforcement resources in the same way as drug task force agents, thereby creating both flexibility and efficiency in the use of such resources;
8.  To determine if there are ways to provide drug court services to more participants using existing resources, such as by providing such services with mobile or temporary locations; and
9.  To make recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor for improvements with respect to alternatives to incarceration, for the purpose of improving the safety and well-being of the citizens of this state at the lowest possible cost.
B.  The task force shall consist of seventeen (17) members as follows:
1.  Three members of the Senate appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, who shall not all be members of the same political party, one of whom shall be the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee;
2.  Three members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall not all be members of the same political party, one of whom shall be the chair of the House Judiciary Committee;
3.  The Presiding Judge of the Court of Criminal Appeals or designee;
4.  A district attorney with a drug court program, a probation supervision program and a community sentencing program in his or her jurisdiction;
5.  One person who is currently employed in the Division of Probation and Parole of the Department of Corrections, to be appointed by the Director of the Department;
6.  The Administrative Director of the Courts;
7.  Two district court judges who administer a drug court program pursuant to the provisions of Section 471.1 et seq. of Title 22 of the Oklahoma Statutes and who have had experience with community sentencing, to be appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court;
8.  Three persons with experience in administration of drug court programs, one of whom shall have also had experience with probation or parole, one of whom shall have worked with a combined drug court and community sentencing program and one of whom shall have worked in a drug court program with a recidivism rate lower than the state average;
9.  The Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services; and
10.  The Director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs.
C.  Appointments to the task force shall be made by August 31, 2011.  The first meeting of the task force shall be called by the Governor and shall be held not later than September 30, 2011, at which meeting a chair shall be elected by a majority of the members of the task force.  Subsequent meetings of the task force shall be held at the call of the chair of the task force.  Members shall serve at the pleasure of their appointing authorities.  A majority of the members of the task force shall constitute a quorum to transact business, but no vacancy shall impair the right of the remaining members to exercise all of the powers of the task force.  A vacancy on the task force shall be filled by the original appointing authority.  Staff support for the task force shall be provided by the Department of Corrections, the Senate, and the House of Representatives.
D.  Members of the task force shall receive no compensation for serving on the task force, but shall receive travel reimbursement as follows:
1.  State employees who are members of the task force shall be reimbursed for travel expenses incurred in the performance of their duties by their respective agencies in accordance with the State Travel Reimbursement Act;
2.  All other task force members shall be reimbursed by the appointing authority for travel expenses incurred in the performance of their duties in accordance with the State Travel Reimbursement Act; and
3.  Legislative members shall be reimbursed in accordance with Section 456 of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
E.  Not later than November 30, 2012, the task force shall submit a report of findings and recommendations to the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
SECTION 2.  It being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
Passed the Senate the 1st day of March, 2011.

	
Presiding Officer 	of the Senate

Passed the House of Representatives the ____ day of __________, 2011.

	
Presiding Officer of the House
	of Representatives