Honorable Jerry Madden, Chair, House Committee on Corrections
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2649 by Allen (Relating to the award of diligent participation credit to defendants confined in a state jail felony facility.), As Introduced
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB2649, As Introduced: a positive impact of $48,994,711 through the biennium ending August 31, 2013.
Fiscal Year
Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2012
$19,690,026
2013
$29,304,685
2014
$29,968,997
2015
$30,232,645
2016
$29,681,628
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
2012
$19,690,026
2013
$29,304,685
2014
$29,968,997
2015
$30,232,645
2016
$29,681,628
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure as it relates to the awarding of diligent participation credit to defendants confined in a state jail facility.
The bill would take effect on September 1, 2011 and apply to a person confined in a state jail facility on or after the effective date of this Act regardless of when the offense for which the person is serving a sentence was committed.
Methodology
Under the provisions of the bill, a judge would be able to credit up to one-fifth of the sentence against any time a state jail confinee was required to serve for diligent participation in an industrial, work, agricultural, educational, or vocational program. A state jail confinee would not be eligible to receive diligent participation credit for any period of time during which the confinee was subject to disciplinary action.
Allowing for punishment in a state jail facility to be decreased through diligent participation credit is expected to result in decreased demands upon the correctional resources of the State due to shorter terms of confinement in state jails. In fiscal year 2010, there were 23,357 admissions to state jail and the average sentence length for these admissions was 10 months. Based on the average sentence length of 10 months, the average maximum diligent participation credit would be 2 months. Assuming all placements received the maximum diligent participation credit, regardless of disciplinary status, the average sentence length would be decreased to 8 months.
In order to estimate the future impact, the proposed conditions of the bill are applied in a simulation model to a state jail population that reflects the distribution of offenses, sentence lengths, and time served. Savings of incarceration by the Department of Criminal Justice are estimated on the basis of $43.03 per inmate per day for state jail facilities, reflecting approximate costs of either operating facilities or contracting with other entities.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.