First Regular Session Sixty-seventh General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO INTRODUCED LLS NO. 09-0100.01 Bob Lackner SENATE BILL 09-019 SENATE SPONSORSHIP Boyd, HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Solano, Senate Committees House Committees Local Government and Energy A BILL FOR AN ACT Concerning the establishment of a pilot program to fund grants to local governments to facilitate changes in land development regulations to accommodate the housing needs of persons with mental illness who are involved in the criminal justice system. Bill Summary (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not necessarily reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted.) Legislative Oversight Committee for the Continuing Examination of the Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness who are Involved in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems. Creates a pilot program to award a specified number of one-time grant payments in a specified amount to local governments as an incentive for a local government to modify or waive the zoning laws or other land development regulations of the local government for the purpose of authorizing the construction or use of one or more structures or facilities that will provide residential or transitional housing for adults with mental illness or co-occurring disorders who are either currently involved in the criminal justice system or who have been involved in the system in the past. Assigns responsibility for administering the pilot program to the interagency advisory committee on adult and juvenile correctional treatment (committee). Specifies procedures governing the process by which local governments may apply for grant awards, the permissible uses of grant moneys, and criteria for the committee to use in evaluating grant applications. Specifies the powers and duties of the committee with respect to the pilot program. Requires grant recipients to report on the status of a grant award by a specified date. Creates a fund in the state treasury for the receipt of moneys either appropriated to or collected for the grants program. Repeals the act on a specified date. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: SECTION 1. Article 20 of title 29, Colorado Revised Statutes, is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW PART to read: PART 4 PILOT PROGRAM TO FACILITATE CHANGES TO LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS TO ACCOMMODATE PERSONS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS WHO ARE INVOLVED IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM 29-20-401. Legislative declaration. (1) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that: (a) Persons with mental illness or with co-occurring disorders are not adequately served by the state's social safety net and find themselves in the state's criminal justice system at an alarming rate. Many of these persons would not be incarcerated if they received appropriate mental health treatment that includes residential or transitional housing. (b) Persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders have a higher probability of being arrested, charged, and sentenced for crimes than persons without such illness or disorders accused of similar crimes. Because of underfunded mental health organizations and insufficient community resources, persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders spend considerably more time than other defendants in correctional facilities or county jails attempting to resolve their cases. As a result of these insufficient resources, a substantial number of these individuals who find themselves in the criminal justice system eventually face incarceration in correctional facilities. Additionally, as a result of this lack of resources and the belief that the longer the time a person is incarcerated the greater the level of safety to the community, persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders also serve longer sentences than persons without such illness or disorders. As a result of these longer stays in correctional facilities or county jails, persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders have more difficulty transitioning back to the communities from which they came. (c) Persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders leave correctional facilities or county jails after being denied residential or transitional community placement and treatment because of reluctance on the part of community correctional facilities to receive them, limitations on the ability of local governments to fund these services, and zoning restrictions. These zoning restrictions are typically adopted and enforced as the result of the public's lack of education, misplaced fears, or misunderstanding of persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders who have emerged from the criminal justice system. Offenders often relapse to prior behavior when they are released from correctional facilities or county jails without the availability of residential or transitional housing and support services. In the absence of residential or transitional housing programs, persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders are released from correctional facilities, county jails, and state hospitals, often into high crime areas. Accordingly, this revolving door continues, with diminished community safety and adverse impacts to the community resulting from increased recidivism and the greater financial costs of increased incarceration and hospitalization. (d) Community-based programs that provide residential or transitional housing with support services to persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders have been demonstrated to be effective and reduce recidivism. Establishing residential or transitional housing programs for persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders will foster less recidivism and will promote community safety and the revitalization of blighted areas. (2) By the enactment of this part 4, it is the intent of the general assembly to: (a) Encourage the establishment and maintenance of community-based programs that provide residential or transitional housing with support services to persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders who are involved in the criminal justice system; (b) Provide financial assistance through the awarding of grants in accordance with the requirements of this part 4 to encourage local governments to amend or waive zoning or other land development regulations to facilitate the creation and maintenance of transitional or residential housing to serve persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders who are involved in the criminal justice system. 29-20-402. Definitions. As used in this part 4, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) "Committee" means the interagency advisory committee on adult and juvenile correctional treatment that addresses issues concerning appropriate treatment for persons with mental illness and co-occurring disorders in the criminal justice population and that is comprised of representatives of the department of human services, the department of corrections, the department of public safety, the department of local affairs, the state board of parole, and the state court administrator's office. (2) "Fund" means the state grants to facilitate zoning changes by local governments fund created in section 29-20-406 (1). (3) "Pilot program" means the pilot program to establish one-time grants to three local governments in the state to facilitate changes in zoning or other land development regulations created in section 29-20-403 (1) in accordance with the requirements of this part 4. 29-20-403. Pilot program - creation - grant applications - use of grant moneys - funding criteria. (1) There is hereby created the pilot program. In connection with the pilot program, the interagency advisory committee on adult and juvenile correctional treatment shall accept proposals from local governments requesting an award of a grant from moneys made available from the fund. From all grant applications submitted by local governments, the committee shall select not more than three local governments that may be awarded grant moneys. Each local government selected by the committee to receive a grant shall be awarded a one-time grant in the amount of five hundred thousand dollars for satisfaction of the conditions specified in subsection (3) of this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of this part 4, grants may only be awarded by the committee under this part 4 to local governments. (2) Subject to the requirements of this section, the governing body of any local government may submit an application to the committee requesting a grant pursuant to this part 4. Any grant approved by the committee pursuant to the requirements of this part 4 shall be awarded to the governing body that submitted the application. (3) (a) In order to obtain grant moneys under this part 4, and as a condition of the receipt of moneys under this part 4, each local government shall agree to use any grant moneys as an incentive for the local government to modify or waive the zoning laws or other land development regulations of the local government for the purpose of authorizing the construction or use of one or more structures or facilities that will provide residential or transitional housing for not fewer than twenty and not more than forty adults with mental illness or co-occurring disorders who are either currently involved in the criminal justice system or who have been involved in the system in the past. (b) Grant moneys awarded under this section may also be used by a local government to: (I) Educate the residents of the local government on issues involving the placement and housing of persons with mental illness or co-occurring disorders who are either currently involved in the criminal justice system or have been involved in the system in the past; and (II) Perform other requirements that the committee deems appropriate in the exercise of its discretion to further the purposes of this part 4. (4) (a) The committee shall develop criteria to guide it in making determinations regarding the awarding of grants to satisfy the requirements of this section. (b) In addition to any other requirements under this part 4, in order to obtain a grant under this section, a local government shall demonstrate to the satisfaction of the committee that it will be able to collaborate with federal, state, or local agencies or authorities working in the areas of mental health, criminal justice, community corrections, housing, and related fields to accomplish the objective of the grant request. This collaboration may be demonstrated through memoranda of understanding by and between or among the local government and such other entities. (c) In addition to the requirements of paragraph (b) of this subsection (4), in considering whether to approve a particular grant application, the committee shall consider favorably one or more of the following factors submitted in support of a particular application: (I) The local government plans to locate the residential or transitional housing project that is the subject of the grant application in an area with close access to mass transit stations or other facilities or that is otherwise accessible to other modes of transportation. (II) The residential or transitional housing project that is the subject of a grant application will improve an economically depressed area. (III) The community has a shortage of housing shelters for mentally ill individuals who are homeless. (5) Notwithstanding any other provision of this part 4, within two years of the date on which grant moneys are made available to a local government under this section, the local government shall have made such amendments to, or granted waivers from, its zoning or other land use regulations necessary to permit the construction or use of residential or transitional housing satisfying the requirements of paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of this section and, in the case of construction or modification of a new structure, the local government shall have granted all necessary development approvals governing the development of the facility. (6) Local governments shall apply for grants made available pursuant to this part 4 on official application forms provided by the committee. Local governments shall provide such information on the forms as the committee may require in furtherance of the purposes of this part 4. In addition to any other information the committee requires a local government to provide, each grant application shall identify the target population the grant is intended to serve, the particular location of the residential or transitional housing project that is the subject of the grant application, and access to transportation made available at the particular location identified. 29-20-404. Administration of the grant program - powers and duties of the committee. (1) The committee shall have the following powers and duties in administering this part 4: (a) To adopt and publicize criteria regarding grants made available pursuant to this part 4; (b) To review and monitor the expenditure of grant moneys by grant recipients; (c) In accordance with the requirements of section 29-20-403, to approve applications for grants under this part 4. Grants may be awarded subject to the requirements of this part 4 and in the amount specified in section 29-20-403 (1). (d) To exercise any other powers or perform any other duties that are consistent with the purposes of this part 4 and that are reasonably necessary for the fulfillment of the committee's responsibilities under this part 4. 29-20-405. Reporting. Any local government receiving grant moneys under this part 4 shall submit to the committee not later than two years after the date on which the local government received grant moneys under this part 4, a report containing a statement of all moneys received under this part 4, the purposes for which the moneys were used, the local government's compliance with this part 4, and any other information that the committee may require to further the purposes of this part 4. 29-20-406. State grants to facilitate zoning changes by local governments fund - creation - source of funds - administrative costs. (1) There is hereby created in the state treasury the state grants to facilitate zoning changes by local governments fund, which fund shall be administered by the state treasurer. The fund shall consist of all moneys appropriated to the fund by the general assembly and all other moneys that may be available to the fund, including moneys collected by the committee for the fund from federal grants and other contributions, grants, gifts, bequests, and donations received from individuals, private organizations, or foundations. Such moneys shall be transmitted to the state treasurer to be credited to the fund. All interest derived from the deposit of moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund. At the end of any fiscal year, all unexpended and unencumbered moneys in the fund shall remain therein and shall not be credited or transferred to the general fund or any other fund. (2) All moneys in the fund shall be subject to annual appropriation by the general assembly. In any fiscal year, no more than two and one-half percent of the moneys appropriated from the fund for the purposes of this part 4 shall be expended for the administrative costs of the committee in administering this part 4. 29-20-407. Repeal of part. This part 4 is repealed, effective July 1, 2019. SECTION 2. Act subject to petition - effective date. This act shall take effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly that is allowed for submitting a referendum petition pursuant to article V, section 1 (3) of the state constitution, (August 4, 2009, if adjournment sine die is on May 6, 2009); except that, if a referendum petition is filed against this act or an item, section, or part of this act within such period, then the act, item, section, or part, if approved by the people, shall take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by proclamation of the governor.