ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Fifth Legislature, First Regular Session
coordinated reentry planning services programs.
Purpose
Allows a county to establish a Coordinated Reentry Planning Services Program (Program) within a county jail. Appropriates $8,000,000 in FY 2022 and $7,000,000 in FY 2023 and FY 2024 from the state General Fund to fund the Programs.
Background
The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission
(ACJC) consists of the following persons or their designees: 1) the Attorney
General; 2) the Director of the Department of Public Safety; 3) the Director of
the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC); 4) 14 members appointed by the
Governor, no more than half of whom can be of the same political party; 5) the
Administrative Director of the courts; and 6) the Chairperson of the Board of
Executive Clemency (A.R.S.
41-2404).
Statute requires ADC to: 1) establish a transition program that provides eligible inmates with transition services in the community for up to 90 days; 2) administer the transition program and contract with private or nonprofit entities to provide eligible inmates with transition services; and 3) procure transition services. At a minimum, eligible inmates must: 1) not have been convicted of a sexual offense or arson; 2) be classified by ADC as a low-violence risk to the community; 3) not have been convicted of a violent crime or a domestic violence offense; 4) not have any felony detainers; 5) agree in writing to provide specific information after the inmate is released; 6) have made satisfactory progress by complying with all programming on the inmate's individualized corrections plan; 7) be classified by ADC as minimum or medium custody as determined by an objective risk assessment; and 8) not have been found in violation of any major violent rule during the inmate's current period of incarceration or in violation of any other major rule within the previous six months. Statute requires that services offered by the transition program include psychoeducational counseling and case management services (A.R.S. 31-281).
There is an anticipated negative fiscal impact of $8,000,000 in FY 2022 and $7,000,000 in FY 2023 and FY 2024 to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Allows a county to establish a Program within a county jail for the purpose of screening and assessing persons who are booked into a county jail and connecting those persons with behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment providers at the earliest possible stage in the criminal justice process.
2. Requires a Program to:
a) allow entities to access and use a cross-system recidivism tracking database that incorporates data obtained from prearrest diversion programs, reentry screenings that occur during the booking process, reentry planning that occurs before and during release and post-release treatment engagement;
b) allow entities to work in conjunction with counties, cities, towns and other political subdivisions of the state and superior courts to create an information exchange mechanism that includes reentry planning efforts;
c) allow county and community-wide collaborative efforts to be established and maintained for jail reentry planning services that include treatment, peer support, housing, transportation and employment services and all branches of the criminal justice and court systems through the development of a new or the extension of an existing condition;
d) establish working agreements with coalition partners in which treatment providers use the cross-system recidivism tracking database to record post-release treatment engagement; and
e) use the cross-system recidivism tracking database to record baseline and ongoing statistics for identified needs, referrals and future recidivism of reentry coordination participants.
3. Requires a county that establishes a Program to establish a committee to develop the Program's policies and procedures, including eligibility criteria Program implementation and operation.
4. Requires the committee to develop the Program's policies and procedures, and to consist of, at a minimum:
a) representatives of the law enforcement agencies participating in the Program;
b) a representative of the Program services provider;
c) a public defender or the public defender's designee;
d) a prosecuting attorney or the prosecuting attorney's designee;
e) a presiding superior court judge or the superior court judge's designee;
f) a clerk of the court or the clerk's designee; and
g) other stakeholders.
5. Establishes the Program Fund to provide monies to counties that establish a Program.
6. Requires the ACJC to administer the Program Fund.
7. Appropriates from the state General Fund to the Program Fund:
a) $8,000,000 in FY 2022; and
b) $7,000,000 in FY 2023 and FY 2024.
8. Appropriates from the Program Fund to a county with a population of 1,500,000 or less persons:
a) $8,000,000 in FY 2022 to establish a Program, of which no more than $1,000,000 may be used to establish cross-system recidivism tracking databases; and
b) $7,000,000 in FYs 2023 and 2024 to establish or fund a Program.
9. Requires each county eligible for monies appropriated to establish or fund a Program to receive a proportional share of the monies based on the county's population.
10. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
House Action
JUD 2/3/21 DP 10-0-0-0
APPROP 2/10/21 DP 11-0-0-2
3rd Read 2/23/21 58-1-1
Prepared by Senate Research
March 2, 2021
JA/RC/kja