An Act To Adjust the Assessment for Correctional Services from Sagadahoc County
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas, this legislation needs to be implemented before the end of the legislative session to allow alternative sentencing to continue in Sagadahoc County; and
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §701, sub-§2-A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 1, Pt. Q, §1, is further amended to read:
The assessment to municipalities within each county may not be greater or less than the fiscal year 2007-08 county assessment for correctional-related expenditures, which is:
Notwithstanding this subsection, the county assessment for correctional services-related expenditures in Somerset County must be set at the fiscal year 2009-10 level when the new Somerset County Jail is open and operating at a level sufficient to sustain the average daily number of inmates from Somerset County.
For the purposes of this subsection, "correctional services" includes the management services, personal services, contractual services, commodity purchases, capital expenditures and all other costs, or portions thereof, necessary to maintain and operate correctional services.
Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation takes effect when approved.
SUMMARY
This bill changes the correctional-related expenditures for Sagadahoc County from $2,295,849, as enacted in Public Law 2007, chapter 653, to $2,526,623. The county became aware after the county made its correctional-related expenditures report that alternative sentencing programs could be included, and Sagadahoc County's report omitted those costs. Without alternative sentencing programs, the number of prisoners will increase and that would become the financial burden of the statewide consolidated jail system. By raising the figure of the funds that the county is authorized to collect, Sagadahoc County can keep its alternative sentencing programs.