Colorado Legislative Council Staff

STATE REVISED FISCAL IMPACT

(replaces fiscal impact dated January 14, 1999)

TITLE:            CONCERNING FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION.

Summary of Amended Legislation

            On April 23, 1999, the House Appropriations committee amended the reengrossed bill to create a conditional effective date such that the bill will take effect upon passage if House Bill 99-1168, with a section creating a bed savings, is enacted.

Summary of Legislation

            This bill requires that the executive director of the Department of Public Health and Environment (DPHE), or the executive director’s designee (1) carry out appropriate and culturally sensitive education, prevention, and outreach activities concerning female genital mutilation; (2) inform the general public about the health risks associated with and the emotional and psychological trauma inflicted by that practice; (3) educate the medical community about recommended standards of practice; and (4) inform the medical community and the general public of the criminal penalties for such action. To fund these functions, this bill authorizes the executive director to obtain and expend private funds, grants, gifts, or donations for the outreach program and creates the Female Genital Mutilation Fund for such grants, gifts, or donations.

            This bill makes it a crime of child abuse for a person to circumcise, excise, or infibulate the genitalia of a female child, or for the parent, guardian, or other person legally responsible for a female child to allow such mutilation of the child’s genitalia, regardless of where the procedure is performed. This bill specifies that it is not an affirmative defense to offer consent to such conduct or belief that the conduct is required as a matter of custom, ritual, or standard practice. There are this crime if the procedure is necessary for the health of the child or performed on a mother who is in labor or in connection with the birth of her infant.

State Revenues

            The bill creates the Female Genital Mutilation Fund. Revenue to the fund is to be from grants, gifts, or donations. This revenue is exempt from TABOR limitations. It is estimated that in order to implement the culturally sensitive education, prevention, and outreach program, DPHE would need to receive a minimum of $38,263 annually from grants, gifts, and donations to fund personal services and operating expenses.

State Expenditures

            Department of Public Health and Environment (DPHE), FY 2000-01, $38,263 CFE (conditional upon receipt) — No General Fund appropriation is necessary for this section. However, the bill requires that on or before July 1, 1999, DPHE shall implement an outreach and education program, subject to available moneys. Because the level of revenue anticipated through grants, donations, and gifts cannot be quantified, the year in which expenditures may occur cannot be identified. This fiscal note assumes that a minimum period of one year is required to access sufficient funds from grants, gifts, and donations to support the program. Therefore, DPHE will not incur any costs in FY 1999-00. Assuming that each year, DPHE will receive its minimum expectation of grants, gifts, and donations as cash fund exempt revenues, DPHE will spend $38,263 in FY 2000-01 and beyond. This revenue would be used to fund a part-time (0.3 FTE) General Professional II to implement education, prevention, and outreach programs associated with female genital mutilation. The table below provides details as to how the $38,263 will be used.

            Department of Corrections (DOC), FY 1999-00, $69,467 GF — For purposes of this fiscal assessment, it is assumed that 1.0 offender will be convicted and sentenced to the DOC every five years for this level of child abuse. Because this level of child abuse is associated with acting “knowingly or recklessly” and with results such as “serious bodily injury,” this fiscal note assumes that female genital mutilation will be considered a class 3 felony. The following statutes support this assumption:

            •    Section 18-6-401 C.R.S. states that “when a person acts knowingly or recklessly and the child abuse results in serious bodily injury to the child, it is a class 3 felony.”

            •    Section 18-1-901 C.R.S. defines “serious bodily injury” as “bodily injury which, either at the time of the actual injury or at a later time, involves a substantial risk of death, a substantial risk of serious permanent disfigurement, a substantial risk of protracted loss or impairment of the function of any part or organ of the body, or breaks, fractures, or burns of the second or third degree.”

            According to the Colorado District Attorney’s database, there were five offenders committed to the DOC for class 3 felonious child abuse in FY 1996-97. The average length of stay for these inmates was 8.1 years or 97.2 months. This fiscal note assumes a similar length of stay for offenders committed under this law. This would require construction costs of $69,467 and operating costs of $24,105 for every year this prisoner would serve.

Five-Year Fiscal Impact on Correctional Facilities

            Section 2-2-703, C.R.S. requires that bills that result in a net increase in periods of imprisonment must be accompanied by five years of appropriations for prison bed construction and operating costs. The table below estimates construction costs at $69,467 per bed and operating costs at $24,105 per bed. The worst-case scenario suggests that an offender would be arrested soon after this bill were enacted and that it would take a year from the date of arrest to sentence placement. Note that the construction costs reflect the funds needed to construct beds in the fiscal year prior to when the additional offender would enter the system.

Spending Authority

            The fiscal note implies that no General Fund appropriation is required, contingent upon the passage of HB 99-1168. If HB 99-1168 is not enacted, the fiscal note implies that for FY 1999-00, the Department of Corrections would require an additional General Fund appropriation of $69,467 for construction costs and a five-year remaining General Fund appropriation of $96,420 through FY 2003-04 for operating costs, pursuant to Section 2-2-703, C.R.S.

Departments Contacted

            Corrections                                         Judicial

            Human Services                                 Public Health and Environment 

            Office of the Public Defender