Bill Text: WV HB2038 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Changing the way the cost of incarcerating inmates in regional jails is collected
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-02-08 - To House Judiciary [HB2038 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2017-HB2038-Introduced.html
WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 2038
By Delegate Rodighiero)
[Introduced February
8, 2017; Referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §31-20-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to relieving the burden imposed on counties of incarcerating inmates in regional jails by changing the way the cost of incarcerating inmates in regional jails is collected so that it is shared by the county, state and municipality wherein the alleged criminal act occurred; and making the cost of incarcerating a person for less than twenty-four hours, one-half the amount charged for incarcerating an inmate for a full day.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §31-20-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY AUTHORITY.
§31-20-10. Regional jail and correctional facility authority funds.
(a) The Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority may create special funds in the State Treasury to identify various revenue sources and payment of specific obligations. These funds may be used for purposes that include, but are not limited to, the construction, renovation or repair of specific facilities, cash control, facility maintenance and the individual operations accounts of facilities operated by the authority. The authority may create other separate accounts within these funds that it determines are necessary for the efficient operation of the authority.
(b) Revenues deposited into these funds shall be used to make payments of interest and shall be pledged as security for bonds, security interests or notes issued or lease-purchase obligations entered into with another state entity by the authority pursuant to this article.
(c) Whenever the authority determines that the balance in these funds is in excess of the immediate requirements of this article, it may request that the excess be invested until needed. In this case, the excess shall be invested in a manner consistent with the investment of temporary state funds. Interest earned on any money invested pursuant to this section shall be credited to these funds.
(d) If the authority determines that moneys held in these funds are in excess of the amount needed to carry out the purposes of this article, it shall take any action that is necessary to release the excess and transfer it to the General Revenue Fund of the State Treasury.
(e) These funds consist of the following:
(1) Amounts raised by the authority by the sale of bonds or other borrowing authorized by this article;
(2) Moneys collected and deposited in the State Treasury which are specifically designated by Acts of the Legislature for inclusion in these funds;
(3) Contributions, grants and gifts from any source, both public and private, which may be used by the authority for any project or projects;
(4) All sums paid by the counties pursuant to subsection (h) of this section; and
(5) All interest earned on investments made by the state from moneys deposited in these funds.
(f) The amounts deposited in these funds shall be accounted for and expended in the following manner:
(1) Amounts raised by the sale of bonds or other
borrowing authorized by this article shall be deposited in a separate account
within these funds and expended for the purpose of construction, renovation and
repair of correctional facilities, regional jails and juvenile detention and
correctional facilities for which need has been as determined by
the authority;
(2) Amounts deposited from all other sources shall be pledged first to the debt service on any bonded indebtedness, including lease-purchase obligations entered into by the authority with another state entity or other obligation incurred by borrowing of the authority;
(3) After any requirements of debt service have been satisfied, the authority shall requisition from these funds the amounts that are necessary to provide for payment of the administrative expenses of this article;
(4) The authority shall requisition and expend
from these funds, after any requirements of debt service have been satisfied,
the amounts that are necessary for the maintenance and operation of
regional jails that are constructed pursuant to the provisions of
this article. and shall expend those amounts for that purpose These
funds shall make an accounting of all amounts received from each county by
virtue of any filing fees, court costs or fines required by law to be deposited
in these funds and amounts from the jail improvement funds of the various
counties. After the expenses of administration have been deducted, the amounts
expended in the respective regions from those sources shall be in proportion to
the percentage the amount contributed to these funds by the counties in each
region bears to the total amount received by these funds from those sources;
(5) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this
article, sums paid into these funds by each county pursuant to subsection (h)
of this section for each inmate shall be placed in a separate account and shall
be requisitioned from these funds to pay for costs incurred at the regional
jail facility at which each inmate was incarcerated; and
(6) Any amounts deposited in these funds from other
sources permitted by this article shall be expended in the respective regions
based on particular needs to be determined by the authority.
(g) (1) After a regional jail facility becomes available pursuant to this article for the incarceration of inmates, each county within the region shall incarcerate all persons whom the county would have incarcerated in any jail prior to the availability of the regional jail facility in the regional jail facility except those whose incarceration in a local jail facility used as a local holding facility is specified as appropriate under the standards and procedures developed pursuant to section nine of this article and who the sheriff or the circuit court elects to incarcerate therein.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, circuit and magistrate courts are authorized to:
(A) Detain persons who have been arrested or charged with a crime, in a county or municipal jail, specified as appropriate under the standards and procedures developed pursuant to section nine of this article, for a period not to exceed ninety-six hours; or
(B) Commit persons convicted of a crime in a county or municipal jail, specified as appropriate under the standards and procedures developed pursuant to section nine of this article, for a period not to exceed fourteen days.
(h) When inmates are placed in a regional jail
facility pursuant to subsection (g) of this section, the county shall pay into
the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Fund a cost per day for
each incarcerated inmate to be determined by the Regional Jail and Correctional
Facility Authority according to criteria and by procedures established by
legislative rules proposed for promulgation pursuant to article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code and as established in section ten-a of this article
to cover the costs of operating the regional jail facilities of this state to
maintain each inmate. The Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority
shall determine a per day cost for each incarcerated inmate, according to
procedures established by legislative rules pursuant to article three, chapter
twenty- nine-a of this code, and as established in section ten-a of this
article, to cover the costs of operating the regional jail facilities of this
state to maintain each inmate. Such costs are to be paid in the following
manner: Ten percent of the cost to operate all regional jails shall be paid
from the State Treasury beginning on July 1, 2017, eighty-five percent shall be
paid by the county where the inmate allegedly committed the criminal act, and
five percent by the municipality, where applicable, where the inmate allegedly
committed the criminal act. In the event the alleged criminal act occurred
outside of a municipality, the county where the inmate allegedly committed the
criminal act shall pay ninety percent of the cost of incarceration. Ten
percent extra is paid by the State Treasury beginning July 1, 2017, and every
year thereafter until such time as the state has assumed a full fifty percent
of the costs normally paid by each county within the State of West Virginia.
The per diem costs for incarcerating inmates may not include the cost of
construction, acquisition or renovation of the regional jail facilities. Provided,
That In addition, each regional jail facility operating in this
state shall keep a record of the date and time that an inmate is incarcerated
and a county may not be charged for a second day of incarceration for an individual
inmate until that inmate has remained incarcerated for more than twenty-four
hours. After that, in cases of continuous incarceration, subsequent per diem
charges shall be made upon a county only as subsequent intervals of twenty-four
hours pass from the original time of incarceration.
(i) In addition, considering that the Central Office employees of the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority are not covered under the Civil Service System, the state shall pay one hundred percent of the total budget to operate the Central Office, wherever so located, including, but not limited to, employee salaries and related costs, lease payments, utilities, building and property insurance coverage, building maintenance, and other such costs or obligations necessary to fully operate said facility in its entirety while maintaining staff.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to relieve the burden imposed on counties and municipalities of incarcerating inmates in the state regional jails by changing the way the cost of incarcerating inmates in regional jails is paid so that it is shared by the state, counties and municipalities, where the alleged criminal act took place.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
