Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Division of the Budget
Landon State Office Building                                                                          Phone: (785) 296-2436
900 SW Jackson Street, Room 504                                                                      adam.c.proffitt@ks.gov
Topeka, KS 66612                                Division of the Budget                              http://budget.kansas.gov
Adam Proffitt, Director                                                                            Laura Kelly, Governor


                                                   January 28, 2022


          The Honorable Stephen Owens, Chairperson
          House Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice
          Statehouse, Room 546-S
          Topeka, Kansas 66612
          Dear Representative Owens:
                    SUBJECT:      Fiscal Note for HB 2455 by Representative Fairchild
                  In accordance with KSA 75-3715a, the following fiscal note concerning HB 2455 is
          respectfully submitted to your committee.
                  HB 2455 would authorize blood donations as a system for obtaining good time credit for
          inmates serving a sentence for a drug severity level one through five crimes. The bill would require
          the Secretary of Corrections to adopt rules and regulations for the program. The Secretary would
          also be required to create a process in which an inmate’s blood donation credit can be earned and
          forfeited and blood quality can be tested. The amount of credit the bill would authorize would be
          10.0 percent of the prison sentence for each donation; however, an inmate would only be allowed
          to donate once every three months. The Secretary would be required to report data on blood
          donation credit calculations to the Kansas Sentencing Commission and the Kansas Reentry Policy
          Council.

                                            Estimated State Fiscal Effect
                                       FY 2022         FY 2022             FY 2023            FY 2023
                                        SGF            All Funds            SGF               All Funds
             Revenue                            --                 --               --                  --
             Expenditure                        --                 --     ($2,060,943)        ($2,060,943)
             FTE Pos.                           --                 --               --                  --
                 The Kansas Sentencing Commission estimates that enactment of HB 2455 would result in
          a decrease of 114, 170, or 223 beds needed by the end of FY 2023 depending on the scenario. The
          scenarios project 114 fewer inmates if 50.0 percent of eligible inmates qualify and participate, 170
The Honorable Stephen Owens, Chairperson
Page 2—HB 2455

fewer inmates with 75.0 percent participation, and 223 fewer inmates with 100.0 percent
participation. By the end of FY 2032, 1,026, 1,524, or 2,034 fewer beds would be needed,
depending on the scenario. The current estimated available bed capacity is 9,428 for males and
936 for females. Based upon the Commission’s most recent ten-year projection contained in its
FY 2022 Adult Inmate Prison Population Projections report, it is estimated that the year-end
population will total 7,782 male and 756 female inmates in FY 2022 and 7,736 male and 730
female inmates in FY 2023.
        The Department of Corrections indicates enactment of the bill would result in it being able
to close one housing unit, resulting in savings of staff, food, medical, and other costs of $49.53 per
resident per day. The Department estimates savings from 114 fewer residents (50.0 percent
participation) would total $2,060,943 from the State General Fund in FY 2023. The Department
also indicates that enactment of the bill would require it to recode computer systems to track the
credits, develop administration regulations, revise new policies, and train staff. Operational costs
to administer the program would include staff time for organizing collection events, security
checks for people entering the facility to collect blood, movement of residents from housing units
to the collection site, obtaining test results to determine blood quality, and data entry associated
with the application of credits. However, the Department indicates these costs could be absorbed
within existing resources.
        In addition, the Department of Corrections indicates that it currently works with local blood
banks for small scale blood collection opportunities. Enactment of the bill would require these
partnerships to scale up for the approximate 1,600 drug offenders who would be eligible to donate
four times a year which would result in 6,400 blood collections annually. Should these partners
be unable to scale up, the Department of Corrections would need to develop the capacity to collect,
store, test, transport, and deliver collected blood offsite. However, this fiscal effect cannot be
estimated because the capacity that would need to be developed is unknown. Any fiscal effect
associated with HB 2455 is not reflected in The FY 2023 Governor’s Budget Report.


                                                      Sincerely,

                                                      Adam Proffitt
                                                      Director of the Budget

cc: Randy Bowman, Corrections
    Scott Schultz, Sentencing Commission
Statutes affected: 
As introduced: 21-6821