HB0082 - Drug courts.

 

2001

State of Wyoming

01LSO-0127

 

 

 

HOUSE BILL NO.  HB0082

 

 

Drug courts.

 

Sponsored by:  Joint Labor, Health and Social Services
Interim Committee

 

 

A BILL

 

for

 

 1  AN ACT relating to drug courts; providing for the funding
 2  of a drug court program; specifying qualifications for
 3  funding; establishing a drug court panel; providing for
 4  administration; creating a drug court account; providing an
 5  appropriation; and providing for an effective date.

 6 

 7  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

 8 

 9         Section 1.  W.S. 5-9-101 through 5-9-107 are created
10  to read:

11 

12  CHAPTER 9

13  DRUG COURTS

14 

15         5-9-101.  Purpose and goals.

16 

 

Page  1

 

 

 

 1         (a)  The legislature recognizes that a critical need
 2  exists in this state for criminal justice system programs
 3  that will break the cycle of drug and alcohol addiction and
 4  the crimes committed as a result of drug and alcohol
 5  addiction. It is the intent of the legislature to
 6  facilitate local drug court programs to:

 7 

 8              (i)  Provide sentencing options for the judicial
 9  system to dispose of cases stemming from drug use; and

10 

11              (i)  Combine judicial supervision, supervised
12  probation, drug testing, treatment, aftercare and
13  monitoring of drug court participants.

14 

15         (b)  The goals of the drug court programs funded under
16  this article include the following:

17 

18              (i)  To reduce alcoholism and other drug
19  dependency among offenders;

20 

21              (ii)  To reduce recidivism rates in both drug use
22  and criminal activity;

23 

24              (iii)  To reduce the drug related court workload;

 

Page  2

 

 

 

 1 

 2              (iv)  To increase the personal, familial and
 3  societal accountability of offenders; and

 4 

 5              (v)  To promote effective interaction and use of
 6  resources among criminal justice personnel, state agencies
 7  and community agencies.

 8 

 9         5-9-102.  Establishment of drug court system; drug
10  court account.

11 

12         (a)  Any drug court which meets all of the
13  qualifications of W.S. 5-9-106 and rules and regulations
14  properly promulgated is eligible for funding from the drug
15  court account in an amount not to exceed two hundred
16  thousand dollars ($200,000.00) for each fiscal year.

17 

18         (b)  The department of health shall make funding
19  recommendations to the drug court panel based on the amount
20  of funding which the county supplies to its drug court. The
21  department of health shall make recommendations regarding a
22  proportionate contribution to each participating county
23  from the drug court account subject to the maximum amount
24  established in subsection (a) of this section.

 

Page  3

 

 

 

 1 

 2         5-9-103.  Drug court panel.

 3 

 4         (a)  The department of health shall oversee and
 5  provide funding for the drug courts from the drug court
 6  account.  The department of health shall implement rules
 7  and regulations specifying a funding application procedure,
 8  certification requirements for the treatment of personnel
 9  participating in the drug court program and drug court
10  program office guidelines. In order to maximize federal
11  financial participation, compliance with the United States'
12  Department of Justice Drug Court Program guidelines shall
13  be considered by the department.

14 

15         (b)  A drug court panel shall consist of the following
16  or their designees: chairman of the board of judicial
17  policy and administration, chair of the governor's
18  substance abuse and violent crime advisory board, director
19  of the department of health, the attorney general, director
20  of the department of family services, director of the
21  department of corrections and the state public defender.
22  The panel, upon recommendations from the department of
23  health, shall make all funding determinations. The panel
24  shall determine whether a local drug court management

 

Page  4

 

 

 

 1  committee which makes application for drug court funding
 2  meets the criteria established by W.S. 5-9-106.

 3 

 4         (c)  Any expenses incurred in implementing this act
 5  shall be paid from the drug court account by the department
 6  of health. Administrative expenses shall be minimized and
 7  shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the amounts
 8  appropriated to the drug court system.

 9 

10         (d)  Those members of the drug court panel who are not
11  full-time employees of the state of Wyoming shall receive
12  as compensation one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125.00)
13  for each day necessarily employed in attending the meetings
14  of the board, and shall also receive per diem and mileage
15  allowance as allowed to state employees for attending the
16  meetings and performing the duties incumbent upon them as
17  members of the drug court panel.

18 

19         5-9-104.  Local drug court management committee.

20 

21         (a)  A local drug court management committee shall be
22  established by each local drug court. The members of this
23  management committee shall be actively involved with the
24  drug court. The management committee shall consist of:

 

Page  5

 

 

 

 1 

 2              (i)  The circuit court judge who presides over
 3  the local drug court;

 4 

 5              (ii)  One (1) prosecuting attorney, selected by
 6  the county or district attorney;

 7 

 8              (iii)  One (1) member of the bar who practices
 9  criminal defense, selected by those members of the bar who
10  practice criminal defense before the circuit court judge;

11 

12              (iv)  A monitoring officer, agreed upon by the
13  attorney members of the committee and the circuit court
14  judge; and

15 

16              (v)  A representative of the treatment providers,
17  agreed upon by the attorney members of the committee and
18  the circuit court judge.

19 

20         (b)  The five (5) members of the local drug court
21  management committee specified in subsection (a) of this
22  section may agree to appoint additional members.

23 

 

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 1         (c)  All members shall be residents of, or practicing
 2  in the county or counties served by the local drug court.

 3 

 4         (d)  Each local drug court management committee shall
 5  manage the funds received from the drug court account, meet
 6  any reporting requirements of the department of health and
 7  appoint a drug court coordinator or program manager who
 8  shall be responsible for administration and oversight of
 9  the court and will be the primary contact for outside
10  agencies.

11 

12         (e)  The drug court coordinator or program manager and
13  any other persons employed shall receive compensation as
14  determined by the local drug court management committee.

15 

16         5-9-105.  Application; selection by drug court panel;
17  report on grants awarded.

18 

19         (a)  Requests for new or continued funding of drug
20  courts may be submitted annually by any local drug court
21  management committee to the drug court panel on dates set
22  by the department of health. Submitted proposals shall be
23  in a form provided and prescribed by the department of

 

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 1  health, which shall, at a minimum, require the qualifying
 2  information provided by W.S. 5-9-106.

 3 

 4         (b)  When available, the Wyoming Criminal Justice
 5  Statistical Analysis Center within the University of
 6  Wyoming shall be utilized in providing appropriate data for
 7  a proposal.

 8 

 9         (c)  The drug court panel shall award grants to only
10  those drug courts which meet the minimum standards required
11  by this article and rules and regulations promulgated by
12  the department of health.

13 

14         (d)  In accordance with determinations of the drug
15  court panel, the department of health shall annually
16  distribute funds to the management committee of selected
17  drug courts on or before September 1. Drug court grants
18  received under this article shall only be used for the
19  purposes which the grant is awarded and shall not be
20  expended for any other program, activity or purpose.

21 

22         (e)  The department of health shall, on behalf of the
23  drug court panel, annually report to the governor and the
24  joint labor, health and social services committee on the

 

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 1  selected drug courts which receive funding. The report
 2  shall include an evaluation of the drug courts and a
 3  determination of whether each drug court funded under this
 4  article is successful in meeting the objectives of this
 5  article.

 6 

 7         5-9-106.  Qualifications.

 8 

 9         (a)  To be eligible for funding from the state drug
10  court account a local drug court shall:

11 

12              (i)  Integrate substance abuse treatment services
13  with the justice system case processing;

14 

15              (ii)  Use a nonadversarial approach involving
16  both the prosecution and defense counsel to promote public
17  safety while providing appropriate treatment for the
18  adjudicated individual;

19 

20              (iii)  Identify eligible participants early and
21  promptly place the eligible participant in the drug court
22  program;

23 

 

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 1              (iv)  Provide access to a continuum of substance
 2  abuse related treatment and rehabilitation services;

 3 

 4              (v)  Monitor long term abstinence by frequent
 5  drug and alcohol testing;

 6 

 7              (vi)  Coordinate a strategy which will guide 
 8  drug court responses to a participant's compliance with the
 9  program requirements;

10 

11              (vii)  Facilitate ongoing judicial interaction
12  with each drug court participant;

13 

14              (viii)  Monitor and evaluate the achievement of
15  program goals and gauge the effectiveness of the program;

16 

17              (ix)  Continue interdisciplinary education which
18  promotes effective drug court planning, implementation and
19  operations;

20 

21              (x)  Forge partnerships among drug courts, public
22  agencies, community-based organizations and private
23  foundations and businesses which generate local support and
24  enhance the effectiveness of the drug court program; and

 

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 1 

 2              (xi)  Have maximized the use of available federal
 3  funding from the United States department of justice drug
 4  court program under the guidelines of title 42, section
 5  3796ii of the United States Code.

 6 

 7         5-9-107.  Conditions for admission to a drug court
 8  program.

 9 

10         (a)  Each drug court shall establish conditions for
11  referral of proceedings to the court consistent with drug
12  court program office guidelines. Any proceeding accepted by
13  the drug court program for disposition shall be upon
14  agreement of the parties. Any drug court participant shall
15  agree to the release of medical and other records relevant
16  to the treatment of the participant pursuant to subsection
17  (b) of this section.

18 

19         (b)  Drug court staff, designated by the circuit court
20  judge, shall be provided with access to all records of any
21  state or local government agency relevant to the treatment
22  of any program participant. Employees of all such agencies
23  shall fully inform a drug court staff of all matters
24  relevant to the treatment of the participant. All such

 

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 1  records and reports and the contents thereof shall not be
 2  disclosed to any person outside of the drug court, and
 3  shall be maintained by the court in a confidential file not
 4  available to the public.

 5 

 6         Section 2.  W.S. 7-19-106(a) by creating a new
 7  paragraph (ix) is amended to read:

 8 

 9         7-19-106.  Access to, and dissemination of,
10  information.

11 

12         (a)  Criminal history record information shall be
13  disseminated by criminal justice agencies in this state,
14  whether directly or through any intermediary, only to:

15 

16              (ix)  Drug court staff utilizing the information
17  pursuant to the drug court act in title 5, article 9.

18 

19         Section 3.  One million five hundred thousand dollars
20  ($1,500,000.00) is appropriated from the general fund to
21  the department of health for purposes of this act.

22 

 

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 1         Section 4.  This act is effective July 1, 2001.

 2 

 3                         (END)

 

Page 13