Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE

FISCAL NOTE

General Fund Expenditure Impact

TITLE:            CONCERNING THE PROVISION OF PRISON CHAPLAINS IN CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES, AND MAKING AN APPROPRIATION THEREFOR.

Summary of Legislation

            This bill would create the position of prison chaplain within each correctional facility in the state and would require each chaplain to demonstrate various counseling skills, assist in departmental and facility policies, and provide resources and materials to inmates and staff. The chaplain would report to the warden of the facility.

            The bill would require specific credentials for chaplain applicants, including a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s of Divinity Degree, three year’s experience with a congregation, one year clinical experience, and a denominational endorsement.

            The Department of Corrections would be required to contract with a private organization for consultation concerning the recruitment and selection of prison chaplains. The private organization would pay at least ten percent of the salary and benefits costs.

            The bill would permit religious services to be performed by a qualified individual when the chaplain is prevented from delivering a particular religious service. Further, the bill prohibits the chaplain or volunteers from disparaging another religion or coercing an inmate to change religious affiliation.

            The bill will become effective at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the ninety-day period after adjournment sine die of the General Assembly, or on the date of the official declaration of the vote of the people as proclaimed by the Governor, if a referendum petition is filed pursuant to Article V, Section 1 (3) of the State Constitution.

Background

            The Department of Corrections (DOC) currently has 18 full time volunteer chaplains and three part time volunteer chaplains. In addition, several ministry groups are planning to add more volunteer chaplains for the DOC in the next year. All volunteer chaplains are in compliance with DOC regulations and have completed the necessary training program at the DOC training academy. Finally, all faith groups ministers are ordained through their faith group affiliation; however, under the requirements of the bill, many ministers would not meet the educational requirements.

State Expenditures

            The bill would have a fiscal impact to the Department of Corrections (DOC) for providing each state correctional facility with a chaplain. In FY 1998-99, the DOC will have 21 fully operational facilities. Staff will be hired at the Sterling Correctional Facility in October 1998 and staff at the Trinidad Correctional Facility will be hired in April 1999. Considering the partial year for these two facilities, 22 chaplains will be needed in FY 1998-99 and 23 chaplains would be required in FY 1999-00.

            The bill requires the DOC to contract with a private organization to provide chaplain services to inmates. Although the chaplains would not be state employees, this fiscal note assumes the annual salary for a Chaplain I of $37,692 and 12.95 percent for benefits (or $4,881). Additionally, it is assumed the DOC would be required to pay 7.0% for administrative costs to the private contracting organization. The bill states that the private contracting organization would bear 10 percent of the cost of salaries and benefits. Therefore, the 10 percent has been deducted from the total cost of salaries, benefits and administrative costs and is provided in the table below.

* This percentage is based on current contracts that the Department of Corrections has with other private contracting organizations.

Spending Authority

            This fiscal note indicates that the Department of Corrections would require a General Fund appropriation of $901,952 in FY 1998-99 to implement the provisions of the bill.

Departments Contacted

            Department of Corrections