HP0329, LD 463, item 1, An Act To Improve the Funding of County Jails

An Act To Improve the Funding of County Jails

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §701, sub-§2-C, as enacted by PL 2015, c. 335, §11, is amended to read:

2-C. Tax assessment for correctional services beginning July 1, 2015. Beginning July 1, 2015, the counties shall annually collect no less than $62,172,371 from municipalities for the provision of correctional services in accordance with this subsection. The counties may collect an amount that is more than the base assessment limit established in this subsection, except that the additional amount each year may not exceed the base assessment limit as adjusted by the growth limitation factor established in section 706-A, subsection 3 or 3%, whichever is less subject to the county assessment limit set forth in section 706-A and as long as the annually adjusted amount of the base assessment limit or the base assessment limit, whichever is higher, is carried forward for use in calculations in future years. For the purposes of this subsection, "correctional services" includes management services, personal services, contractual services, commodity purchases, capital expenditures and all other costs, or portions thereof, necessary to maintain and operate correctional services. "Correctional services" does not include county jail debt unless there is a surplus in the account that pays for correctional services at the end of the state fiscal year.

The assessment to municipalities within each county may not be greater or less than the base assessment limit, which is:

A. A sum of $4,287,340 in Androscoggin County;

B. A sum of $2,316,666 in Aroostook County;

C. A sum of $11,575,602 in Cumberland County;

D. A sum of $1,621,201 in Franklin County;

E. A sum of $1,670,136 in Hancock County;

F. A sum of $5,588,343 in Kennebec County;

G. A sum of $3,188,700 in Knox County;

H. A sum of $2,657,105 in Lincoln County;

I. A sum of $1,228,757 in Oxford County;

J. A sum of $5,919,118 in Penobscot County;

K. A sum of $878,940 in Piscataquis County;

L. A sum of $2,657,105 in Sagadahoc County;

M. A sum of $5,363,665 in Somerset County;

N. A sum of $2,832,353 in Waldo County;

O. A sum of $2,000,525 in Washington County; and

P. A sum of $8,386,815 in York County.

Sec. 2. 30-A MRSA §1557-B, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 2015, c. 335, §16, is amended to read:

3. Reimbursement. Reimbursement for the support of a prisoner who is transferred by a sending jail to a receiving jail or the Department of Corrections is subject to the provisions of this subsection.

A. During a state fiscal year in which at least $12,202,104 has been appropriated to the County Jail Operations Fund and disbursements have been made equal to that amount to the counties as required by Title 34-A, section 1210-D, the receiving jail or the department may not charge the sending jail a per diem rate for the transferred prisoner.

(1) The county of the receiving jail may charge the county of the sending jail a per diem rate for the transferred prisoner; and

(2) The rate charged by the receiving jail must equal the per diem per prisoner amount calculated by the department in making the disbursement to the counties under Title 34-A, section 1210-D, subsection 4; and

(3) The department may charge the county of the sending jail an amount that has been negotiated between the department and the jail sheriff that does not exceed , except as provided in paragraph D, $108 per diem per prisoner.

C. The county of the sending jail shall reimburse the county of the receiving jail or the department for any costs incurred in the provision of extraordinary medical or surgical treatment for conditions of the prisoner that existed prior to transfer.

D. Payment amounts provided for in this subsection may be adjusted or dispensed with upon terms mutually agreeable to the sheriff of the county of the sending jail and the sheriff of the county of the receiving jail or the department.

Sec. 3. 34-A MRSA §1210-D, sub-§4, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2015, c. 335, §23, is amended to read:

B. Take into consideration and assign to a jail the number of county jail prisoner days attributable to each prisoner who was charged with committing a crime in that county or was committed to the custody of or detained by the sheriff of that county;

Sec. 4. 34-A MRSA §3063-C, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 2015, c. 335, §28, is amended to read:

3. Reimbursement. By agreement between the commissioner and the sheriff county of the receiving jail pursuant to this section, the department shall pay directly to the jail county reimbursement in accordance with this subsection.

A. During a state fiscal year in which at least $12,202,104 has been appropriated to the County Jail Operations Fund and disbursements have been made equal to the amount appropriated to the counties as required by section 1210-D, the receiving jail may charge the department for the transferred prisoner a rate to be negotiated between the sheriff of the jail and the department that is no higher than $25 per diem per prisoner.

B. During a state fiscal year in which less than $12,202,104 has been appropriated to the County Jail Operations Fund or disbursements have not been made equal to that amount to the counties as required by section 1210-D When a prisoner is transferred from a correctional facility to a county jail, the county of the receiving jail may charge the department for the transferred prisoner a rate to be negotiated between the sheriff of the county jail and the department that is no higher , except as provided in paragraph D, than $108 per diem per prisoner.

C. The department shall reimburse the county of the receiving jail for any costs incurred in the provision of extraordinary medical or surgical treatment for conditions of the prisoner that existed prior to transfer.

D. Payment amounts provided for in this section may be adjusted or dispensed with upon terms mutually agreeable to the commissioner and the sheriff of the county of the receiving jail.

SUMMARY

This bill amends the laws on funding the county jails and the transfer of prisoners among county jails and the Department of Corrections. The bill clarifies that a county jail that receives a transfer of a prisoner from a sending county jail or the Department of Corrections may charge the sending county jail or the Department of Corrections a per diem charge for the transferred prisoner. The bill clarifies in the funding formula for county jails that the jails are credited for the prisoners who are committed to the custody of or detained by the sheriff of that county. The bill removes the cap on tax assessments for correctional services that is specific to the jails and imposes the limitation on county assessments that applies more generally to the counties as set forth in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 30-A, section 706-A.

HP0329 LD 463	Session - 128th Maine Legislature		LR 1290 Item 1
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