Fiscal Highlights - October 2016

EOCJ Meeting Summary: October 20, 2016 - Gary R. Syphus ( PDF)

The Executive Offices and Criminal Justice (EOCJ) Appropriations Subcommittee met on October 20th at the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office in Salt Lake City. Here are some key highlights:
  1.  Welcome/Unfinished Business from July 14th Meeting Internal Controls - As a continuation of  a prior meeting, staff explained that largely borne out of events at the beginning of the year at the Utah Communications Authority (UCA), there were some remaining reports on internal controls from agencies that were submitted by the Division of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Corrections. Also, UCA has yet to submit a report because they are in the process of restructuring their staff and once they do that they will be able to adopt new internal controls and submit their report.
  2. Salt Lake County Jail/JRI Changes Overview and Tour - The Subcommittee toured a portion of the Salt Lake County Jail and looked specifically at the changes as a result of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) in the booking and screening area of the jail. The Subcommittee was informed about the overall implementation and specific metrics related to the implementation such as what populations are booked and screened.
  3. Justice Reinvestment Initiative - The Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice reported on the status of the JRI. The full report can be found here. Some of the reported key takeaways were (a) the overall prison population has decreased and the number of nonviolent, low-level offenders being sent to prison has decreased, (b) probation-focused policies are progressing with fewer probation revocations, an increase in the number and rate of successful discharges, and slowed growth of the probation population overall, (c) and "substance use treatment numbers pre-and post-reform remain fairly constant, with treatment for both substance use and mental health being an ongoing area in need of expansion". Here is an excerpt from the report that shows the actual vs. projected JRI prison population vs. pre-JRI projections (baseline).
    The following image shows the decrease of offenders (both nonviolent and violent) within the prison system which is almost all accounted for by a decrease in nonviolent offenders. In this case nonviolent offenders decreased by 600 since FY 2014 which accounts for about 90% of all offenders.   
  4. Recruitment and Retention of Certain EOCJ Agency Positions - The Governor's Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Human Resource Management reported on recruitment and retention data for certain EOCJ agency positions. This data includes the history of targeted increases for specific positions and market position of these positions. The full presentation can be found here.
  5. Judicial Weighted Caseload - The Courts reported on the budget implications of certain statutes that disallows judges from serving long-term in other judicial districts other than where they are originally assigned regardless of what the judicial workload is in a judicial district long-term. They also discussed the statute that requires the Courts to hire judges immediately regardless of the caseload within a judicial district.
October 2016 Content ( PDF)
An Update on Sales Tax Revenue Set-Asides and the Gas Tax - Thomas E. Young
On October 18th, the Executive Appropriations Committee heard an update on sales tax revenue set-as...
Division of Fleet Operations General Fund Borrowing Follow-up - Brian Wikle
Since its inception in FY 1997, the Division of Fleet Operations has been in debt to the General Fu...
EOCJ Meeting Summary: October 20, 2016 - Gary R. Syphus
The Executive Offices and Criminal Justice (EOCJ) Appropriations Subcommittee met on October 20th a...
FY 2018 Education Budget Process Begins - Ben Leishman
October is an important month when it comes to developing next year's public education budget. This...
Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee Meets - Spencer C. Pratt
The Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee met on October 20, 2016 at the Capitol.Several bil...
Justice Efforts for the 2017 General Session - Alexander R. Wilson
With the 2017 General Session just around the corner, the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile ...
Revenue Update - October 2016 - Andrea Wilko
Utah closed FY 2016 with a $7.4 million General and Education Fund revenue surplus. The Education F...
Utah College of Applied Technology Custom Fit, FY 2011 - FY 2015 - Jill L.Curry
The Custom Fit program funds training for Utah employees that is tailored to meet specific employer...
What Happened in the October 20, 2016 Social Services Appropriations Meeting? - Russell T. Frandsen
Call to Order /Approval of Minutes - Approved the minutes from the September 22nd meeting.Highlight...
Where did the FY 2016 General Fund Revenue Surplus Go? - Steven M. Allred
Fiscal Year 2016 ended with a General Fund revenue surplus of $13.6 million. What happened to that ...
Why Do Restricted Fund Types Matter? - Clare Tobin Lence
Most state agencies receive revenue from multiple funding sources. These sources include "state fun...

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