FY 1996 Appropriations Report


Legislature, Executive Offices, Courts and Corrections

The combined budget of these agencies in Fiscal Year 1996 is $291,896,400 (of which $255,049,100 is from the General Fund).

 

  • Legislature
  • Executive Offices
  • Courts
  • Corrections

  •  

    The Legislature

    The total FY 1996 appropriation of $10,568,900 for the Legislature and its staff agencies is a decrease of 2.4 percent from estimated expenditures in FY 1995.

    Major budget increases (decreases) included:

     

    1. Native American Legislative Liaison Committee
    2. Property Tax Task Force
    3. Information Technology Commission
    4. Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel
    5. Land Conservation Task Force
    6. Domestic Violence Task Force
    7. Tax Review Commission Study - Taxation of Telecommunications
    8. Commitment Law Study

    The Legislature also approved supplemental funding of $96,000 in FY 1995 for three additional task forces:

    Task Force on County Revenues Children and Youth Task Force Parental Involvement Task Force

     

    Senate

    The Utah Senate is composed of 29 members and is organized into ten standing committees, interim study committees, nine appropriation subcommittees, and a management committee.

     

     

    House of Representatives

    The Utah House of Representatives is composed of 75 members and is organized into ten standing committees, interim study committees, nine appropriation subcommittees, and a management committee.

     

    Legislative Printing

    The Legislative Printing Office provides essentially all of the printing services for the Legislature and its staff agencies.

     

    Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel

    The Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel is the research and legal staff arm of the Utah Legislature. The staff of the Office provides a legal and policy review of both current law and proposed legislation.

    Included in the appropriation are funds to support several task forces and study committees established by the Legislature.

    Office of The Legislative Fiscal Analyst

    The major duties of this Office involve analyzing and making recommendations to the Legislature on every item in the Governor's budget, providing cost estimates on proposed legislation, and providing revenue estimates on existing and proposed revenue bills.

     

    Office of the Legislative Auditor General

    The major function of this Office is to conduct performance audits of state departments and institutions, including school districts and state colleges and universities. This office received funding for an additional audit position.

     

    Tax Review Commission

    The 1990 Legislature enacted House Bill 266 that established a Tax Review Commission. The Tax Review Commission is composed of 14 members, including two members from the Senate and two from the House of Representatives, five members appointed by the Governor, an ex officio member of the State Tax Commission and four members selected by the other ten members of the Commission. The purpose of the review commission is to establish an on going and comprehensive review of the tax laws of the State and its political subdivisions and make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature on tax issues and policies.

     

    Constitutional Revision Commission

    This Commission is responsible for making a comprehensive examination of the state constitution and recommending amendments to the Legislature.

     

    Judicial Conduct Commission

    The Judicial Conduct Commission is established by the Utah Constitution and is responsible for making investigations and holding hearings on the conduct of judges in the Utah Court system. This Commission's budget and oversite will be transfered to the State Auditor beginning in FY 1996.

     

    Executive Offices

    The total budget for the Executive Offices of the State for FY 1996 is $41,656,600. This represents a 3.49 percent increase over the FY 1995 budget.

     

    Governor

    The total budget appropriated for the Governor's Office in FY 1996 was $14,447,700.

    The Motor Voter program was appropriated $242,000.The Governor was appropriated $40,000 for Task Forces.The Governor's Washington Office was appropriated $14,000.An appropriation of $3,000 was made to the Governor's Administration.The Governor's Office was appropriated $50,000 to fund the Constitutional Defense Council.The Office of Planning and Budget was appropriated $30,000 for an additional budget analyst.The Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice was appropriated an additional $20,000 for anti-gangs mini-grants

    Auditor

    The total budget appropriation for the Office of the State Auditor was $2,595,400.

    The Judicial Conduct Commission was moved from the Office of Research and General Counsel to the Auditor's Office. Funding of $75,000 in FY 1995 was shifted in this transition.An appropriation of $58,000 from the General Fund and $51,000 from Non-lapsing balances was made to the Judicial Conduct Commission in FY 1996.The Auditing section was appropriated $52,000 for an additional auditor and $20,000 for computer equipment to replace obsolete software and hardware.

    Treasurer

    The Treasurer's Office was appropriated a total budget of $1,715,900.

    The Office of the Treasurer was appropriated $23,000 to replace dedicated credits lost because of legislative changes. The funding is to be used for a bond analyst.

    Attorney General

    The Office of the Attorney General was appropriated a budget of $20,952,500.The Child Welfare Reform Act continued to add significant costs to the Attorney General's budget.An appropriation of $628,400 was made to fund a Child Permanency Unit. This unit is provided one year of funding to catch up on the backlog in the Children's Welfare Unit caused by the passage of the Child Welfare Reform Act (H. B. 265).The Child Welfare Unit was appropriated $345,800 from the General Fund and $190,000 in federal funds for attorneys and staff needed for Child Welfare Reform Act complianceAn additional $120,000 of General Funds and other funds totaling $284,000 were appropriated to fund expert witness fees required for Child Welfare Reform Act compliance.An appropriation of $636,000 for Attorney's Fees to pay for settlement of the David C. vs. Leavitt Case was provided in the 1995 First Special Session.The Attorney General was appropriated $407,500 from the Criminal Defense Costs Trust Fund to implement the provisions of S. B. 97. A General Fund appropriation of $250,000 was made to the Criminal Defense Costs Trust Account.An appropriation of $30,000 was made to fund Claims Against the State.A General Fund appropriation of $135,000 was provided to replace federal funds used to operate the Children's Justice Centers.

    Judicial Branch

    The Judicial Branch has five courts of record (Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, District Courts, Circuit Courts and Juvenile Courts), with 91 judges and six court commissioners that are fully funded and operated by the State. In addition, there are Justice Courts (not of record) operated within the framework of cities and counties of the State that require 128 additional judges.

    The total budget for the courts for FY 1996 is $69,095,300. This represents a 5.32 percent increase over the FY 1995 budget. Growth from FY 1991 (total budget $54.4 million) to FY 1995 ($64 million) averaged approximately 3.6 percent per year. Growth throughout the system is highlighted by the growth in filings experienced by the court of general jurisdiction, the District Court.

     

    Highlights of the Legislative budget process are:

    Judicial salaries were increased by 3.05 percent raising the District Court Judge to an annual salary of $86,200. As a part of continuing reorganization Circuit Court salaries were raised to 100 percent of the District Court salary and the authority of the Court Commissioners was clarified. (House Bill 167) Two District Court judges were added to the Fourth District and a Juvenile Court judge was added to the Fifth District. (Senate Bill 81) Child Welfare Reform added $211,000 and another Juvenile Court judge to the system. (House Bill 334)Court Commissioners Amendments bill (Senate Bill 87) provided funding for conversion of some commissioners to District judges and severance pay for those that will not be retained.Both Domestic Violence (House Bill 314 for $100,000) and Restitution (House Bill 333 for $31,400) added funds to the court base budget.

    Juvenile Court

    The Juvenile Court is a statewide court of special jurisdiction. The court has exclusive jurisdiction over youth under 18 years of age who are charged with criminal violations, dependency, neglect, child abuse, and limited status offenses such as curfew and truancy.

    To deal with a backlog in Child Welfare and placement cases a special one-time, one-year long effort involving temporary judges, attorneys and human services staff have been created. This project, called the Child Permanency Project, includes an FY 1995 supplemental appropriation of $268,300 and an FY 1996 appropriation of $1,431,400 in the Juvenile Court in addition to funding in the Attorney General's Office and the Human Services Department.A one-time appropriation of $250,000 was provided to convert the Juvenile Court WANG system into a modern and compatible computer system.

    Jury and Witness Fees

    Jury and Witness Fees costs are paid by cities and counties and reimbursed by the State. If the costs exceed the appropriation, the overrun is filed as a Claim Against the State and comes before the Legislature in the following year. Jury/Witness Fee Expenditures from 1990 to 1995 are illustrated in Figure 2.

     

     

     

    Adult Corrections

    The Department of Corrections, as the adult correctional authority for the State of Utah, has a primary mission of community protection. To accomplish this goal, the Department must develop and provide programs that identify and control the convicted offender's inappropriate behavior, and help the offenders in functioning as law-abiding citizens. The prison system is at its operational capacity and the Adult Probation and Parole is staffed below standard supervision levels. Prison population growth is projected at 6 percent per year and probation and parole populations are projected at 15 percent annual growth.

    Issues related to the growth of prisons and costs include current population projections, which show a gradual increase but an increasing crime rate is not in evidence.The crime rate has not increased nor decreased more than 8 percent over the average rate for this period but, Utah's incarceration rate has grown. To illustrate the growth experienced and anticipated, the following graph shows the state trend:

     

     

     

    The total budget for all of Corrections for FY 1996 is $170,600,600. This represents a 14.54 percent increase over the FY 1995 budget and reflects the continuing focus of the Legislature on crime programs. Most notable, in this growth of budgets, is the increase in the number of beds for confinement of offenders in both the adult and youth systems.

     

    Field Operations

    Field Operations programs include, Adult Probation and Parole, Community Correction Centers (half-way houses), and the Diagnostic Unit, currently housed at Draper. Field Operations (generally non-institutional settings) represents 29 percent of Corrections' staff, but manages approximately 10,000 probation/parole individuals.

     

    Included in the Corrections Field Operations budget are 10 additional probation and parole officers.

    Community Corrections Centers

    The Centers provide housing and services for more than 1,000 clients annually. The supervision continuum ranges from a 24-hour lockup to light supervision. General services to the residents include intake and career development, job placement, and reintegration and linkage with community resources.

    Funding for seven additional staff and operations costs for the new, 150 bed, Northern Utah Correctional Center (Ogden) of $1,501,300 was provided.Funding for a new 240 bed, Prerelease/Violators Center was provided. The $5,000,000 for this center will finance full year operations for a privatized facility within the new state owned building on the Draper prison property.Institutional Operations

    The Division of Institutional Operations includes the prisons and support facilities related to prison operations. Included in these programs are all services to and for inmates.

    Draper Prison Complex

    With the growth of incarceration and related facilities in Utah, Institutional Operations is no longer just the State prison at Draper. The continuum of supervision in the prison ranges from a 24-hour lockup in Unit III to dormitory arrangement in the Lone Peak (formerly used for the women) facility where some inmates work in the community during the day. The Draper facility is the point of Receiving and Orientation for all new inmates and the processing point for all inmate releases from prison.

    To help alleviate overcrowding in the prisons, funding for operations of a new maximum security unit (Uinta IV) was provided. The $1,941,000 will add staffing and operations costs for 192 beds at this facility.Iron County Facility

    The Iron County Resource Center is a jointly operated county jail/satellite prison. Currently there are approximately 91 State inmates in the facility.

    Inmate Placement Program (Out count)

    The State has contracted with local county sheriffs for the housing of State inmates at local jails. In total 50,833 inmate days were contracted last year for a total cost of $2,982,500.

    As demand for beds grows, additional beds are contracted with local jails. For FY 1996, $961,500 was provided for contracting for an additional 75 inmate beds in county jails. Distribution of the jail and compact inmates for a typical day is shown below.

    Agency/State Number of Inmates
    Emery County Jail 2
    Garfield County Jail 7
    Kane County Jail 5
    Millard County Jail 8
    San Juan County Jail 33
    Sanpete County Jail 9
    Sevier County Jail 1
    Uintah County Jail 26
    Washington County Jail 4
    TOTAL COUNTY JAIL 95

     

    Prison Medical Services

    Utah appears to have the same problems as other states to one degree or another. Some of the problems are the constraints placed by Federal courts preventing "Deliberate Indifference" to the health care of inmates. One consequence of this history of inadequate care has been the Henry V. Deland case. In response to this suit the Utah Department of Corrections is attempting to upgrade the health care for inmates.

    Forensic Services

    With the passage of the State Hospital Amendments Bill in the 1989 General Session, persons in the custody of the Department of Corrections who require mental health services, whether at the State Mental Hospital or at local mental health authorities, are the responsibility of the Department for funding. Funding for State Mental Hospital beds for FY 1996 is $190,000.

    Utah Correctional Industries

    Utah Correctional Industries provides vocational training and income for inmates while providing goods and services for the state at a considerable savings. The total budget for FY 1996 is $8,200,000.

    The Board of Pardons

    The Board of Pardons is the release authority for inmates in the State of Utah. The Board is responsible for reviewing an inmate's performance after the inmate is incarcerated, and determining when and under what conditions the inmate may be released after serving the minimum sentence required by law. In addition, the Board reviews violations of release conditions to determine whether an inmate should be sent back to prison, etc. The Board budget for FY 1996 is $1,938,300.

    Jail Reimbursement

    In Utah courts have authority under current law to suspend the sentence of a person convicted of a felony and assign that person, for a period not to exceed one year, to a county jail as a condition of probation.

    The Jail Reimbursement statute requires annual phases into full costs. This year the funding was at 60 percent of costs and amounts to $3,631,200. Next year requests are to be at the 80 percent level.

    Legislation that significantly added to the Corrections Department budget and workload included:

    S. B. 111, Serious Youth Offenders - $351,800

    H. B. 369, Home Confinement - $417,800

    H. B. 37, Robbery Amendments - $21,000

    Division of Youth Corrections Summary

    The Division of Youth Corrections is a Division of the Department of Human Services. The Division of Youth Corrections is responsible for all delinquent offenders committed by the State's Juvenile Court. The total FY 1996 appropriation for Youth Corrections is $38,260,900. This is a 19.67 percent increase over the previous year.

    The population projections for the "at risk" population of youth (10-17) show an annual increase of almost 3 percent per year through 1996.

    Of particular concern is the increasing age profile of the "at risk" group. As the baby boom echo population moves through the profile, the percentage of the risk population that will be "older teens" (the highest crime category) continues to grow. During the 1990's this shift will provide an "at risk" population profile that will be significantly older and more crime prone than in the past.

    Crime statistics show that the juvenile offenders are a major and growing source of Utah crime. This trend is most particularly evident in property crimes, substance abuse and status offenses. As the state acts in response to these increases, the workload, particularly the youth in custody, increases.

    Figure 5 Secure Confinement Delinquency History

    Secure Confinement Delinquency History
    FY 91 FY 92 FY 93 FY 94
    Committed 106 121 122 136
    Average Number of Conviction 29 27 27 26
    Felonies 8.3 7.0 6.8 6.4
    Life Endangering 45% 42% 51% 62%
    Misdemeanor 18 17.3 17.7 17.6
    Other 3.1 2.5 2.6 2.0
    Average Length of Stay in Months 11.1 10.6 10.1 7.2

     

    The average youth, in the youth's corrections system is 16 years old, and has 19 prior criminal convictions (most of which are property offenses) including five felonies and has a history of drug and/or alcohol use.

    An additional $423,200 was provided to bring the new 18 bed St. George Youth facility to full year funding.An appropriation of $2,369,600 was provided for a new Northern Utah Youth Corrections facility in Davis County. This 60-bed unit should help release some overcrowding pressure on the other youth's corrections facilities on the Wasatch Front.Finally, a new privatized Youth Corrections facility, in Salt Lake County, of 128 beds was approved and provided $1,900,000 for first year operations.

     

    Estimated Supplementals Revised Appropriated Change from
    Programs FY 1995 FY 1995 FY 1995 FY 1996 Revised FY 95
    Senate $1,182,300 $1,182,300 $1,061,400 ($120,900)
    House of Representatives 1,857,700 1,857,700 1,851,600 (6,100)
    Legislative Printing 723,500 723,500 749,700 26,200
    Legislative Research & General Counsel 3,482,700 54,500 3,537,200 3,376,500 (160,700)
    Tax Review Commission 50,000 50,000 50,000
    Legislative Fiscal Analyst 1,519,100 29,500 1,548,600 1,546,700 (1,900)
    Legislative Auditor General 1,435,100 1,435,100 1,475,300 40,200
    Dues - NCSL 73,400 73,400 77,600 4,200
    Dues - CSG 61,800 61,800 65,100 3,300
    Constitutional Review Commission 55,000 55,000 55,000
    Judicial Conduct Commission 32,000 32,000 (32,000)
    Subtotal 10,472,600 84,000 10,556,600 10,308,900 (247,700)
    One-time Funding
    National Conference of State Legislators 50,000 50,000 (50,000)
    Western Legislative Conference 100,000 100,000 (100,000)
    Task Forces 96,000 96,000 260,000 164,000
    Total Appropriation $10,622,600 $180,000 $10,802,600 $10,568,900 ($233,700)
    Plan of Financing
    General Fund $9,908,300 $180,000 $10,088,300 $10,156,300 $68,000
    Dedicated Credits 270,000 270,000 270,000
    Beginning Nonlapsing 900,800 900,800 456,500 (444,300)
    Ending Nonlapsing (456,500) (456,500) (313,900) 142,600
    Total Funding $10,622,600 $180,000 $10,802,600 $10,568,900 ($233,700)


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