This Fiscal Note is not an official copy and should not be quoted or cited.
This Fiscal Note is not an official copy and should not be quoted or cited.
Fiscal Note - SB 0952 - Creates procedure for civil commitment of sexually violent offenders
COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH
OVERSIGHT DIVISION
FISCAL NOTE
L.R. NO. 4003-01
BILL NO. SB 952
TYPE: Original
DATE: March 3, 1998
FISCAL SUMMARY
|
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON STATE FUNDS | |||
| FUND AFFECTED | FY 1999 | FY 2000 | FY 2001 |
| General Revenue | ($4,516,459) | ($2,548,567) | ($5,313,061) |
| Total Estimated
Net Effect on All State Funds |
($4,516,459) | ($2,548,567) | ($5,313,061) |
|
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FEDERAL FUNDS | |||
| FUND AFFECTED | FY 1999 | FY 2000 | FY 2001 |
| None | |||
| Total Estimated
Net Effect on All Federal Funds |
$0 | $0 | $0 |
|
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON LOCAL FUNDS | |||
| FUND AFFECTED | FY 1999 | FY 2000 | FY 2001 |
| Local Government | (Unknown) | (Unknown) | (Unknown) |
Numbers within parentheses: ( ) indicate costs or losses
This fiscal note contains 6 pages.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
ASSUMPTION
Officials from the Office of Attorney General assume that costs associated with this proposal could be absorbed with existing resources.
Officials of the Department of Social Services assume this proposal would have no fiscal impact to their agency.
Officials from the Office of State Courts Administrator (CTS) indicated that each new case will involve a considerable of court time. However, the CTS did not believe the total number of cases would result in a significant impact on the workload of the courts.
Officials from the Office of State Public Defender (SPD) assume this proposal will fiscally impact the SPD. The SPD assumes that an average of 121 Probable Cause hearings will be held each year for the next three years. The CTS further assumes an average of 100 additional trials will be held each year and an average of 121 annual hearings will take place each year. The SPD calculates that this additional caseload will require 2 additional attorneys and .75 FTE for a paralegal and .5 FTE for a legal secretary at a total cost of $135,346 for FY 99. Future costs would total $140,329 and $143,932 for FY 00 and FY 01, respectively. All costs were allocated to the General Revenue Fund, based on prior funding sources.
SPD officials further assumed portions of the proposal would allow for the defendant's independent evaluation (other than Mental Health). SPD officials assumed that Department of Mental Health would be responsible for paying for those costs. If this proposal intends for SPD to be responsible for the cost for the defendant's independent evaluation, SPD officials estimate the cost at $2,500 per evaluation. This would add $625,000 to SPD's cost projections ($2,500 x 250 defendants = $625,000).
Oversight assumes the costs for independent psychiatric evaluations would be paid for by the State Public Defender in the course of representing their clients.
Officials of the Department of Corrections (DOC) assume this proposal would result in the civil confinement within a secure institutional setting of persons who have been determined to be at risk of performing sexually predatory acts. This would increase the population growth predicted by the DOC for institutional confinements.
ASSUMPTION (continued)
With the current Missouri Sexual Offender Program (MOSOP) staff resources, DOC serves approximately 10% of the confined sexual offender population. To serve 25% of the current eligible population as mandated by this proposal, DOC would request an additional 24 FTE. Of those 24 FTE, DOC would request 14 Associate Psychologist II's ($34,296), 5 Clerk Typist II's ($16,512), 4 Corrections Caseworkers II's ($31,620) and 1 Psychologist I ($39,744). Requested program staff would be for the treatment, supervision and clerical support of this program. DOC officials were unable to predict how much growth in this population would occur in the future, therefore the additional FTEs outlined above would be the minimum increase in required resources for this provision.
DOC officials assume their department would house persons committed under this proposal in 50-bed units. Based on current annual failures of those required to participate in the MOSOP whose offenses are referenced in this proposal, the DOC predicts that an additional 25 persons per year would be confined. In addition to persons presently incarcerated who could be civilly committed, persons found to be not guilty by reason of insanity of a sexually violent offense and persons charged with a sexually violent offense and found incompetent to stand trial could be confined under this proposal. The DOC has no reliable means to predict the additional impact of such persons on confinement resources.
DOC officials assume as a result of this proposal they would incur operational costs of $30.37 per inmate, per day. Assuming 25 persons would be added to the population of civilly committed individuals per year the estimated fiscal impact for operational costs would be $230,845 in FY99, $570,878 in FY00 and $882,006 in FY01.
The DOC assumes that for each person confined under this proposal, an additional maximum security bed would need to be constructed at the cost of $48,500. Using current construction time lines, DOC officials assume that a bed would take at least two years to construct. These cost projections assume double bunking of occupants. Total FY99 cost would be $2,425,000. At the predicted rate of increase, an additional 50 bed housing unit would need to be constructed every two years.
DOC officials assume this proposal would have long-range fiscal impact. They predicted that this proposal would increase the rate of institutional confinements, thus increasing operational costs, and would require a significant increase in the number of MOSOP personnel to keep treatment capacity equal to 25% of the incarcerated sexual offenders. Since DOC staff were unable to predict the long term growth in this population the long range costs from proposal are unknown.
ASSUMPTION (continued)
Oversight assumes for purposes of this fiscal note that commitment of sexual predators should result in savings to the Board of Probation and Parole (Board). Supervision by the Board is an average per diem of $2.47 per offender, per day. Assuming 25 sexually violent predator offenders would be confined as a result of this proposal annually, Oversight estimated the savings to the Board at $18,775 in FY99, $46,881 in FY00 and $73,134 in FY01.
Officials of the Department of Mental Health (DMH) assumed in response to Section 632.607.1, that DMH would be responsible for the initial sexual predator evaluations. DMH staff also assumed that the DOC would be responsible for the care and treatment of these clients. DMH officials assume they would request one (1) Psychologist III and one (1) Psychologist I, plus related equipment and expenses, to conduct at a minimum of sixty evaluations per year and to provide required court testimony. DMH officials stated that more examiners might be needed at a later date if the volume of examinations were to increase, but this is unpredictable.
In response to a similar proposal officials of the Office of Prosecution Services (OPS) assumed in response to a similar proposal that it would require prosecutors represent the state in civil commitment proceedings for sexually violent offenders. OPS officials stated that is unknown how many of these proceedings there would be in any given year, but assumes that there could be some increased costs to prosecutors as a whole. However, OPS officials would not expect any one prosecutor's office to experience a large number of these cases and therefore the fiscal impact to any one office should be minimal.
Officials of the OPS spoke with the Cole County Prosecutor's office. The Cole County Prosecutor indicated in response to a similar proposal that fiscal impact to any one prosecutor's office should be minimal and could be handled with existing staff.
Officials of the Greene County Prosecutor's office assumed in response to a similar proposal that costs to their office would be unknown. The costs would be dependent on the number of cases, the amount of expert testimony needed, and the number of jury trials requested as a result of this proposal.
Oversight assumes that prosecutors as a whole could experience increased costs as a result of this proposal; however, the cases would be spread throughout the state. Oversight assumes these hearings would become part of the regular duties of prosecuting attorneys and any increased costs would be addressed through their city or county budget processes.
| FISCAL IMPACT - State Government | FY 1999 | FY 2000 | FY 2001 |
| (10 Mo.) | |||
| GENERAL REVENUE FUND | |||
| Savings-Department of Corrections (DOC) | |||
| Reduced Probation and Parole supervision | $18,775 | $46,881 | $73,134 |
| Cost-Department of Corrections (DOC) | |||
| Personal Service (24 FTE) | ($622,377) | ($765,830) | ($784,975) |
| Fringe Benefits | (174,452) | (214,662) | (220,028) |
| Expense and Equipment | (315,518) | (137,965) | (142,125) |
| Operational Costs | (230,845) | (570,878) | (882,006) |
| Capital Improvement | (2,425,000) | 0 | (2,425,000) |
| Total Cost - DOC | ($3,768,192) | ($1,689,355) | ($4,454,134) |
| Costs-State Public Defender (SPD) | |||
| Personal Service (3.25 FTE) | ($77,371) | ($95,205) | ($97,585) |
| Fringe Benefits | (21,687) | (26,686) | (27,353) |
| Expense and Equipment | (29,205) | (9,714) | (10,005) |
| Contract expenses | (520,625) | (643,750) | (663,062) |
| Total Costs-SPD | ($648,888) | ($775,355) | ($798,005) |
| Cost-Department of Mental Health (DMH) | |||
| Personal Service (2 FTE) | ($76,752) | ($94,405) | ($96,765) |
| Fringe Benefits | (21,514) | (26,462) | (27,123) |
| Expense and Equipment | (19,889) | (9,872) | (10,168) |
| Total Cost - DMH | ($118,154) | ($130,738) | ($134,056) |
|
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT TO | |||
| GENERAL REVENUE FUND | ($4,516,459) | ($2,548,567) | ($5,313,061) |
| FISCAL IMPACT - Local Government | FY 1999 | FY 2000 | FY 2001 |
| (10 Mo.) | |||
| Costs - Cities & Counties | |||
| Sexually violent predator commitment cases | (Unknown) | (Unknown) | (Unknown) |
| FISCAL IMPACT - Small Business | |||
No direct fiscal impact to small businesses would be expected as a result of this proposal.
DESCRIPTION
This proposal would allow the civil commitment of sexual predators under circumstances outlined in this proposal. This proposal would commit sexually violent predators to the custody of the Department of Corrections for the control, care and treatment until the person's mental abnormality or personality disorder has been corrected to the point that the person is safe to live among the populace. The procedures to be followed for civil commitment of sexual predators are outlined in this proposal.
This proposal would also require that the MOSOP program serve at least twenty-five percent of the eligible imprisoned population of sexual offenders at any one time.
This legislation is not federally mandated, would not duplicate any other program and would require additional capital improvements or rental space.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Department of Mental Health
Department of Corrections
Office of State Courts Administrator
Office of Attorney General
Office of State Public Defender
Office of Prosecution Services
St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney
Greene County Prosecuting Attorney
Jeanne Jarrett, CPA
Director
March 3,1998