Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE

REVISED FISCAL NOTE

(Replaces Fiscal Note dated April 8, 1998)

General Fund Expenditure Impact

TITLE:            CONCERNING CREATION OF A CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE.

Summary of Legislation

            This bill, as amended by House Appropriations and referred back to House Appropriations by the Legislative Council Committee (House Journal April 20, 1998, p. 1388), creates the Criminal Justice Committee (CJC), comprised of six legislative members, and 13 non-legislative members. Members of the General Assembly would be appointed by the President of the Senate (2 members), Minority Leader of the Senate (1 member), Speaker of the House of Representatives (3 members). Three members would be appointed from each house with no more than two from each house appointed from the same political party. The 13 non-legislative members would be appointed as follows:

One representative selected by each of the following entities:

∙          Colorado District Attorneys Council;

∙          Colorado Organization of Victims’ Assistance;

∙          Office of the State Public Defender;

∙          County Sheriffs of Colorado, Inc.;

∙          Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police;

∙          Colorado Community Corrections Boards;

Four ex officio voting members, as follows:

∙          Executive Director of the Department of Public Safety or his or her designee;

∙          Executive Director of the Department of Corrections or his or her designee;

∙          Executive Director of the Department of Human Services or his or her designee; and

∙          Chair of the State Parole Board or his or her designee;

The Attorney General or his or her designee;

Two additional members appointed by the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court:

∙          representing the interests of trial courts and the probation system.

            The CJC would study and make recommendations on the criminal justice system and the corrections system. Any recommendations would be treated as legislation recommended by an interim legislative committee for purposes of any introduction deadlines or bill limitations imposed by the joint rules of the General Assembly. The CJC may meet during the legislative sessions and during the interim between sessions. The bill would take effect July 1, 1998. The CJC would be repealed effective July 1, 2003.

State Revenues

            The bill specifies that the CJC is authorized to apply for, receive, and expend funding from governmental sources for purposes of the committee; and is authorized to apply for, receive, and expend contributions, grants, services, and in-kind donations from private sources. No estimate is made at this time from these possible revenue sources.

State Expenditures

            The bill specifies that the CJC is to receive staff assistance from Legislative Council. Assuming the Criminal Justice Committee will meet five times during the session and six times during the interim, meeting costs and staff resource requirements are identified in Table 1. Non-legislator members would be reimbursed for all necessary expenses. Legislator members would be compensated as set forth in Section 2-2-307, C.R.S. (during the interim -- actual and necessary expenses and $99 per diem per meeting). The average expense reimbursement for all members is estimated to be $50 per meeting.

Expenditures Not Included

            Pursuant to the Joint Budget Committee’s budget policies, the following expenditures have not been included in this fiscal note:

            •   health and life insurance costs; $838

            •   short-term disability costs; $ 25

Spending Authority

            Since this bill was not approved by the Legislative Council as part of the regular interim studies currently budgeted, the Legislative Department would require a total General Fund appropriation of $25,867 and 0.4 FTE to implement the provisions of the bill for FY 1998-99. Of this amount, the General Assembly would require an additional General Fund appropriation of $3,564, the Legislative Council would require a General Fund appropriation of $17,706 and 0.3 FTE, and the Office of Legislative Legal Services would require a General Fund appropriation of $4,597 and 0.1 FTE.

Departments Contacted

Legislative Council    Office of Legislative Legal Services