City, County & Local Affairs Committee- House

chair sees a quorum if you like to speak for against the bill I ask you to sign up to my left right here. Of. The first order of business a House bill thirteen ninety nine by representative Cavenaugh without objection I'll put that on special order next week. Actions I will do that and we'll get started representive Underwood wants us to pass over his house bill twelve oh seven today is representative Johnson and. If not. Represent very you ready present Senate bill seventy two. proceed to the table and identify yourself and your. Thank you Mr chairman I have a before the committee today Senate bill seventy two. And the with your permission may I ask the sheriff John Montgomery come to the yes. Table with me. Your food you'll get stable identify yourself. I'm Stan Berry of District forty four. I'm John Montgomery on the share for Baxter County. We have a bill before you this morning that of committee that I understand it's a agreed upon bill department correction socialization the county sheriff association. What this bill does it It sets a date. For which the county jails can start being reimbursed for of the people the third thank you have incarcerated with him it's a. The real simple bill. It the page for the. At that particular date it would pay for of start playing reimbursement for the expenses housing food and transportation to and from and medical expenses also. You have any. And I've got just a couple quick things up in German fight you'll be happy to know I'm not gonna talk about repeat offenders today. Sort a private joke if you that passed so the short version of this I'm gonna give you just a quick overview because I'm sure you all of I've been contacted on this the Department corrections when a person gets in front of a judge and the judge sentences them to prison in a perfect world we would load him up into the van we were taken straight to the prison but we don't have a perfect world we've got a crowding a problem I think the last number I heard was about nineteen hundred backed up right now in the county jails waiting to go so they leave the court room they go to the county jail well the average cost kind of across the state to hold inmates a little over sixty dollars a day the state reimburses us for forty. But there's and if so once the judge sentences them they are now the state's responsibility. But there's a section in the law that says that the state will begin paying from day one for both housing and medical if. The correct paperwork. Is filed with the department of corrections in twenty one days. Now I can tell you that didn't used to be a problem. It was pretty simple because prior to ACT five seventy which I'm sure some of you know that bill. The sentencing order was about one to two pages long now it's about ten to twelve and there's so many little blanks and check marks in show if that but it syncing order is not totally correct they kick it back the judge has to then re signed the order so if it's not done within twenty one days we don't get paid. And what this bill simply does is remove the twenty one day limit and says we're gonna get paid from day one and the medical expense the House or to take care of that state inmate is going to be taken care of now to protect the department of corrections and the state of Arkansas. They're not gonna pay essential part works correct I mean and to me that's fair so if it takes you know two months then we don't get paid for two months but that's that's what this bill simply does is it's that it says Hey we're gonna eliminate that twenty one day rule that's in the law and make it from day one and be happy to answer any questions if you have any. They represent writes you're recognized thank thank you Mr chairman chair of John in a case like this What what do we do we do we just lose money for that period and. Also sheriff John is our impact on this there is an impact there was impact study done and they estimated about four point seven million. R. as what they estimate that would go back to the council sent in the only thing I would say to that this is money already owed to the counties it's not like we're asking for something new it's just because of that twenty one day rule so I'm gonna give you one quick example that happened us with an inmate that had been in our jail for a hundred and thirty days and the paperwork was not correct. So the problem is we've not only lost a hundred and thirty days worth of reimbursement to us but will also the medical that we had to pay well as it turns out there was a couple errors done by the prosecutor's office but then it said in the judge's queue for forty five days before the judge signed well that's not that's not our fault so we don't feel like we should be penalized again because these are state inmates that we're holding because there's no room at the end. Thank you Mr chairman. Thank you Mr chairman sure if the estimate that you just just mentioned though four million estimate who who came up with that estimate will Senator Hickey as sponsor this bill and he asked for an impact study so um I don't have that from a bill no there's one here representative very at is there a fiscal impact statement on the bill. I'm sorry. yes Sir representative berries is there I was just looking on the. On the website here turn my phone on for you respond and I don't see a fiscal impact listed on the website has has one been. Performed by. The agency your bill are. If I might real quickly I had that unfortunately the Senate Committee I'm left of camp site this morning at four thirty and I did not bring that with me but there was one that was given to this Senate committee. A week before last so I believe it was four point seven if I remember correctly. I just wonder why would be on the website list under the bill. Okay staff here does not have. I. I mean I'm in support of the bill I think that's a good bill I just it's customary I think to have a fiscal impact statement on something that cost four million dollars. I don't have an impact statement. If that's what we're asking okay let's proceed and see if we get that impact statement bill. Okay you through yes okay. Representative college you're recognized. Thank you Mister chair I just wanna make sure I mean you know I think that were inadvertently removing a factor that might help expedite the sentencing orders G. because I wouldn't want things to take longer because you're removing something they can incentivize the system to move on a little bit. I'm sorry your yes Sir so represent Collins I don't believe so and I'll tell you the reason why I don't think so number one we don't have anything to do with those sentencing orders okay so they come from the prosecutor's office and then once it's done the judge signs it it's it's submitted if it's incorrect it's kicked back they have to re do that sentencing order judge has to re sign and resubmit it so the the there's not a whole lot we can do other than beg the prosecutor's office to hurry in this case you've got there's no money in other words we're not gonna get paid until that sentencing orders correct that's what we agreed to with the department corrections is sort of that way to make sure. You know order obviously there's gonna be a big impact if we don't get paid so I think I think in in some ways it puts the entire county. Going back to try to get that paperwork correct rather than just a sure from or the jail administrator well I guess my question I could just follow up real quick I guess what I'm asking is do you currently do you guys you know the hassle the prosecutor in and try to get the process moving because you want to get paid correct and now you'll have other county officials it'll also be. I hate use or hassling you know what I mean trying to to get to get the prosecutor's office and again I want to go back this used to be a simple process one or two page form it is become extremely cumbersome and somewhere down the road I think we need to readdress the sentencing orders to make them much more simple because you're just a lot of data collected on those but it's kind like the check box a then you gotta go on page three and check box B. and if you don't well the orders not correct and so some of those things can certainly be streamlined that that's not for today's discussion but but I think it should be brought up at some point. Okay represent long you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman sure I'm just wanna make sure the the beginning date would be today that the person is convicted that's correct so when they stand up in front of the judge in that could be I mean the vast majority of cases are plea please but it could would make a difference if the jury said or the judge said you're you're guilty it's that date of conviction so with when the judge says I find you guilty that's when the day starts all questions. If you're. It in in my understanding is once the person is convicted there are not the county's problem anymore if there's then basically the responsibility of state begins at that moment that is correct and then we have to house them I mean yes yes this amendment and and keep in mind the reimbursement rate is not actual cost me work with grateful don't get me wrong because I can remember start it I think it was twenty six dollars today so uh to get it up to forty which is what it currently is we're extremely grateful but that still. Pretty good gap between what the actual cost is and what we're being reimbursed thank you. Any other. Very do we have an impact to. Yeah the impact study. Correct. You're recognized resident right I just ask questions if it's okay okay. You're recognized okay sure up what is the typical amount of time in your experience that it takes to get the paperwork completed on these inmates. Well I in in here's I again I can only speak for my county because it it in it's a snapshot because every day is going to change but the day that this sort of came to light we had roughly twenty five in our facility waiting to go and we had seven of those that were not correct now you know we we checked it again a month later in I think we had three that were correct so it's not that every single one of them is correct but again there's so many there's so much room for error and because the law says currently says correct sentencing order. That's where the the rub license so we discovered that the counties for years. The county sheriff Sir Robert for years of not being getting what's actually the state is supposed to be passed and so this again cleans that up and says we're not gonna page of the paper works correct but we're gonna start paying you from day one and what is your actual costs to house an inmate per day versus what you get what we do I'm sorry versus what you get from the state we let's let our does an audit and I believe it's a third of the counties each year you know that they do and so in our case the numbers a little over sixty dollars and so and that's pretty close I mean that's you're gonna have some counties or more in some that's going to be not not as much what happened in our case our or our cost went up because we were so full and had an inmate sleeping on the floor and again largely in part to it back up from the the state with the building or facility at several million dollars so obviously you have to hire more staff except so the cost goes up to the House those but the entry questions it's it's a little over sixty calendar days with the averages. Thank you. A representative Holcomb you're recognized. Thank you Mr Since we have little time sheriff I just you know I know that you you move these inmates out one best come available at ABC or the average I know. Some probably move out quicker for form when their bed space what how long you know I know some of you probably had to keep a long time can you give us just a little idea that so you for the committee's information yes Sir represent all and I will try not to talk about repeat offenders represent the fight if I you know when I answer your question so it keep in mind a lot of the times these inmates have been sitting in our jail for months and months and months prior to conviction right so prior to conviction we're taking care of them completely right now it's averaging about and I believe the numbers three to four months someone turn around. Three to four months or it's over a hundred days so immense pending on how how the security follow up I'm sorry I missed you as you're recognized scores an independent how heavy the court docket is with you get in there and not you you may have that much time for. For their become statement so I've got to I can think of three inmates in my facility right now that's been there for more than two years that's not been done not been to trial yet thanks year thank you Mr. Okay we're trying to get that impact statement we should have it momentarily. Hey what will recess here and we'll reconvene. The Journal of me were recess. Statement before you. Representative. Right here are you here. As everybody had time to look it over. Have any questions. I think our problem was this was with the Department cracked. What known to be up in a website. Mister Mister chairman I apologize for well it's no problem for all this Committee. Apologize. Represent right you're recognized. Yes I guess my only question would be is just the governor's office have a position on the on this bill or on this expenditure. We're not for sure. Okay. You have to say. The only thing I was gonna say representative we've we've not heard any opposition from anyone in the Department corrections actually helped us draft this bill or risk several iterations went back and forth so I'd I don't want to say absolutely not we that zero Push back if you will. You're recognized the clothes for your bill. Well it and again I apologize for the confusion and I appreciate the. Getting the Bill. Impact study of. A proper time I'll make a motion to of. This is a proper time okay make your of motion do pass on. Okay Senate bill seventy two we have a motion do pass any discussion on the motion. Seeing none all in favor say aye. Those opposed say no. Resolutions are passion. Okay Representative Evans says he's gonna pull is bill back down and also A representative Johnson is not. No other business for the day we are adjourned.