ORIGINAL HOUSE ENGROSSED
BILL NO. 0082
ENROLLED ACT NO.
67, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FIFTY-SIXTH
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING
2001
GENERAL SESSION
AN ACT relating to drug
courts; providing for the funding
of a drug court
program; specifying qualifications for
funding;
establishing a drug court panel; providing for
administration;
creating a drug court account; providing an
appropriation;
and providing for an effective date.
Be It Enacted
by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
Section 1. W.S. 5-9-101 through 5-9-107
are created
to read:
CHAPTER 9
DRUG COURTS
5-9-101. Purpose and goals.
(a) The
legislature recognizes that a critical need
exists in this state
for criminal justice system programs
that will break the
cycle of drug and alcohol abuse and
addiction and the
crimes committed as a result of drug and
alcohol abuse and
addiction. Local drug court programs
shall be facilitated
for the purpose of:
(i) Providing
sentencing options for the
judicial system to
dispose of cases stemming from drug use;
and
(ii) Combining
judicial supervision, supervised
probation, drug
testing, treatment, aftercare and
monitoring of drug
court participants.
(b) The goals
of the drug court programs funded under
this article include
the following:
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(i) To reduce
alcoholism and other drug
dependency among
offenders;
(ii) To reduce
recidivism rates in both drug use
and criminal activity;
(iii) To reduce
the drug related court workload;
(iv) To increase
the personal, familial and
societal
accountability of offenders; and
(v) To promote
effective interaction and use of
resources among
criminal justice personnel, state agencies
and community
agencies.
5-9-102. Establishment of drug court
system; drug
court account.
(a) There is
created a drug court account within the
special revenue fund.
All interest earned on funds within
this account shall be
deposited in the account.
(b) Any drug
court which meets all of the
qualifications of W.S.
5-9-106 and rules and regulations
properly promulgated
is eligible for funding from the drug
court account in an
amount not to exceed two hundred
thousand dollars
($200,000.00) for each fiscal year.
(c) The
department of health shall make funding
recommendations to the
drug court panel based on the amount
of funding which the
county supplies to its drug court. The
department of health
shall make recommendations regarding a
proportionate
contribution to each participating county
from the drug court
account subject to the maximum amount
established in
subsection (b) of this section.
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5-9-103. Drug court panel.
(a) The
department of health shall oversee and
provide funding for
the drug courts from the drug court
account. The
department of health shall implement rules and
regulations specifying
a funding application procedure,
certification
requirements for treatment personnel
participating in the
drug court program and drug court
program office
guidelines. In order to maximize federal
financial
participation, compliance with the United States'
Department of Justice
Drug Court Program guidelines shall
be considered by the
department.
(b) A drug
court panel shall consist of the following
persons or their
designees: chairman of the board of
judicial policy and
administration, chairman of the
governor's substance
abuse and violent crime advisory
board, director of the
department of health, the attorney
general, director of
the department of family services,
director of the
department of corrections and the state
public defender. The
panel, upon recommendations from the
department of health,
shall make all funding
determinations. The
panel shall determine whether a local
drug court management
committee which makes application for
drug court funding
meets the criteria established by W.S.
5-9-106.
(c) Any
expenses incurred in implementing this act
shall be paid from the
drug court account by the department
of health.
Administrative expenses shall be minimized and
shall not exceed ten
percent (10%) of the amounts
appropriated to the
drug court system.
(d) Those
members of the drug court panel who are not
full-time employees of
the state of Wyoming shall receive
as compensation one
hundred twenty-five dollars ($125.00)
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for each
day necessarily employed in attending the meetings
of the board, and
shall also receive per diem and mileage
allowance as allowed
to state employees for attending the
meetings and
performing the duties incumbent upon them as
members of the drug
court panel.
5-9-104. Local drug court management
committee.
(a) A local
drug court management committee shall be
established by each
local drug court. The members of this
management committee
shall be actively involved with the
drug court. The
management committee shall consist of:
(i) The judge
who presides over the local drug
court;
(ii) One (1)
prosecuting attorney, selected by
the county or district
attorney;
(iii) One (1)
member of the bar who practices
criminal defense,
selected by the judge of the drug court;
(iv) A
monitoring officer, agreed upon by the
attorney members of
the committee and the judge; and
(v) A
representative of the treatment providers,
agreed upon by the
attorney members of the committee and
the judge.
(b) The five
(5) members of the local drug court
management committee
specified in subsection (a) of this
section may appoint
additional members.
(c) All members
shall be residents of, or practicing
in the county or
counties served by the local drug court.
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(d) Each local
drug court management committee shall
manage the funds received
from the drug court account, meet
any reporting
requirements of the department of health and
appoint a drug court
coordinator or program manager who
shall be responsible
for administration and oversight of
the court and will be
the primary contact for outside
agencies.
(e) The drug
court coordinator or program manager and
any other persons
employed shall receive compensation as
determined by the
local drug court management committee.
5-9-105. Application; selection by
drug court panel;
report on
grants awarded.
(a) Requests
for new or continued funding of drug
courts may be
submitted annually by any local drug court
management committee
to the drug court panel on dates set
by the department of
health. Submitted proposals shall be
in a form provided and
prescribed by the department of
health, which shall,
at a minimum, require the qualifying
information provided
by W.S. 5-9-106.
(b) The Wyoming
Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis
Center within the
University of Wyoming shall be utilized
in providing
appropriate data for a proposal.
(c) The drug
court panel shall award grants to only
those drug courts
which meet the standards required by this
article and rules and
regulations promulgated by the
department of health.
(d) In
accordance with determinations of the drug
court panel, the
department of health shall annually
distribute funds to
the management committee of selected
drug courts on or
before September 1. Drug court grants
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received
under this article shall only be used for the
purposes for which the
grant is awarded and shall not be
expended for any other
program, activity or purpose.
(e) The
department of health shall, on behalf of the
drug court panel,
annually report to the governor and the
joint labor, health
and social services committee on the
selected drug courts
which receive funding. The report
shall include an
evaluation of the drug courts and a
determination of
whether each drug court funded under this
article is successful
in meeting the objectives of this
article.
5-9-106. Qualifications.
(a) To be
eligible for funding from the state drug
court account a local
drug court shall:
(i) Integrate
substance abuse treatment services
with the justice
system case processing;
(ii) Use a
nonadversarial approach involving
both the prosecution
and defense counsel to promote public
safety while providing
appropriate treatment for the
adjudicated
individual;
(iii) Identify
eligible participants early and
promptly place the
eligible participant in the drug court
program;
(iv) Provide
access to a continuum of substance
abuse related
treatment and rehabilitation services;
(v) Monitor
long term abstinence by frequent
drug and alcohol
testing;
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(vi) Coordinate
a strategy which will guide drug
court responses to a
participant's compliance with the
program requirements;
(vii) Facilitate
ongoing judicial interaction
with each drug court
participant;
(viii) Monitor and
evaluate the achievement of
program goals and
gauge the effectiveness of the program;
(ix) Continue
interdisciplinary education which
promotes effective
drug court planning, implementation and
operations;
(x) Forge
partnerships among drug courts, public
agencies,
community-based organizations and private
foundations and
businesses which generate local support and
enhance the
effectiveness of the drug court program; and
(xi) Have
maximized the use of available federal
funding from the
United States department of justice drug
court program under
the guidelines of title 42, section
3796ii of the United
States Code.
5-9-107. Conditions for admission to
a drug court
program.
(a) Each drug
court shall establish conditions for
referral of
proceedings to the court consistent with drug
court program office
guidelines. Any proceeding accepted by
the drug court program
for disposition shall be upon
agreement of the
parties. Any drug court participant shall
agree to the release of
medical and other records relevant
to the treatment of
the participant pursuant to subsection
(b) of this section.
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(b) Drug court
staff, designated by the judge, shall
be provided with
access to all records of any state or
local government
agency relevant to the treatment of any
program participant.
Agency employees shall fully inform a
drug court staff of
all matters relevant to the treatment
of the participant. No
contents of records and reports
shall be disclosed to
any person outside of the drug court.
The records and
reports shall be maintained by the court in
a confidential file
not available to the public.
Section
2. W.S. 7-19-106(a) by creating
a new
paragraph (ix)
is amended to read:
7-19-106. Access to, and dissemination
of,
information.
(a) Criminal
history record information shall be
disseminated by
criminal justice agencies in this state,
whether directly or
through any intermediary, only to:
(ix) Drug court staff
utilizing the information
pursuant to the drug
court act in title 5, chapter 9.
Section
3. One
million five hundred thousand dollars
($1,500,000.00) is appropriated from the general fund to
the drug court account to be expended by the department of
health for purposes of this act.
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Section 4. This act is effective July
1, 2001.
(END)
Speaker of
the House President of
the Senate
Governor
TIME APPROVED: _________
DATE APPROVED: _________
I hereby certify that this act originated in the
House.
Chief Clerk
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