Drug Court Steering Committee
June 26, 2007
UW Outreach
Center
951 Poplar, Casper, WY
Proposed Agenda
The agenda is subject to revision.
Times are tentative. If a topic is
concluded early, the Committee will proceed to the next topic.
8:00
am-8:30 am Opening remarks,
introductions and review of minutes
8:30 am-9:00 am Review
of proposed recommendations from previous Drug Court Steering Committee
meetings.
9:00
am-12:00 pm General discussion on
the following topics:
1. Discussion about
the problem solving courts that are scheduled to come on line.
2. One drug court
per county.
3. Discussion on
juvenile drug courts and whether juvenile court already allows for the same
processes as juvenile drug courts. Consideration
of allowing only adult drug courts.
4. Decision by
committee on program model (Judiciary, Executive, or Collaborative).
12:00
pm-1:00 pm Lunch
1:00
pm-2:00 pm Continuation of
discussion from morning, if necessary
2:00
pm-3:00 pm Public comment
3:00
pm-4:00 pm Revision of
recommendations based on public comment
4:00 pm-5:00 pm Next
steps
1.
Process for submission of report to Joint Judiciary
2.
Plan for next meeting
Drug Court Steering Committee
Proposed Statutory and Policy
Recommendations
Enrolled Act No. 94
of the 59th Legislature of the State of
Wyoming created a Drug Court Steering
Committee to study the administration of drug courts. The Committee is directed to review and make
recommendations on seven items. The
following are proposed recommendations from the Drug Court Steering Committee
discussed and voted on at the April 18 and May 24 meetings. Recommendations requiring a change in statute
will be directed to the Joint Judiciary Committee of the Wyoming State
Legislature. Policy and rule change
recommendations will be directed to the Wyoming Department of Health, Mental
Health and Substance Abuse Services Division.
The date in parenthesis denotes meeting date where the item was
discussed or a recommendation was made.
(1) State level structural models for drug
courts and the most appropriate model for
Wyoming
·
The Committee recommends that only municipal
or county governments be allowed to apply for and receive funding for a drug
court. The municipal or county
government would be the employer of any drug court administrative staff. (May 24)
(2) Alternative adjudication procedures for
drug courts, including the use of court commissioners, magistrates,
administrative law judges and hearing officers;
·
The Committee supported the recommendation that
commissioners who act as the drug court judge have the same ability as
magistrates to sanction (within parameters) without asking a supervising
judge. The Committee also supports that
magistrates act as drug court judges and that circuit court judges can preside
over district court cases that appear in drug court. (April 18)
(3) The progress and value of the department of
health's substance abuse division's case management system and means for
improvement;
·
The Committee did not provide recommendations to
forward to the Joint Judiciary on this topic. (April 18)
(4) The state's funding model and its current
and most appropriate connection to results in drug courts;
·
The Committee recommends an amendment to current
statute to require that WDH shall establish by rule and regulation a funding
formula based on an amount per client. (May 24)
(5) Collaboration between agencies and branches
of government in the operation of drug courts;
·
The Committee supports the idea of expanding the
Steering Committee to a permanent body and ensuring the judiciary is involved,
perhaps by encouraging the development of
judicial rules. The Committee stated that a
high level of agency cooperation already exists. (April 18)
(6) Drug court participation by county and the
best means to increase drug court participation by counties not participating
due to revenue issues;
·
The issue is increasing county participation and
the recommendation is to not increase the number of drug courts until funding
is stabilized. The Committee will
consider the concept of funding a given amount on a cost reimbursement basis
with a base amount built into the formula.
The topic on funding will be furthered discussed at the next
meeting. (April 18)
(7) Performance
measures, as developed by the committee, for evaluation on a statewide basis.
·
The Committee recommended deleting the five
goals listed in statute and replace with national outcome measures. The national outcome measures include:
o
Participant retention and graduation
o
Participant Recidivism
o
Participant Sobriety
o
Units of service provided to participants (April
18)
(8)
Other
recommendations to the Joint Judiciary to sponsor legislation that would:
·
Allow judges to require completion of a drug
court as a term of probation.
·
Provide judges with the ability to impose
sanctions in a drug court for violations of the conditions of that drug court.
·
Provide for a hearing prior to termination of
drug court.
·
Detail what sanctions are available to a drug
court.
·
Require that the legal status of all drug court
client cases shall be post-adjudication, 301 deferral or consent decree.
·
Move the drug court statutes from Title 5 to
Titles 7 and 14.
·
Prohibit a judge who has participated in
treatment team discussions on the specifics of the individual’s progress or
lack there of in the drug court from participating in any further adjudication
proceedings in the underlying case.
·
Modify current statutes to allow for an
extension of probation for up to three years for participants in a drug court
and parallel language added to consent decrees.
·
Modify current statute to allow probation for
misdemeanor crimes and consent decrees to be greater than one year not more
than three if participating in a drug court.
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