Drug Court Accountability and Treatment Act.

08LSO-0076.L1

FISCAL NOTE

There would be a transfer of $4,800,000 in Tobacco Settlement Funds and $4,313,385 in General Funds from the existing drug court account to the newly created drug court account.

The revenue increase to the Department of Health drug court account is indeterminable.

Source of Revenue Increase:  

A drug court account will be set up and all interest earned will be added to the account.  In addition the division may apply for federal or other grants, accept donations, gifts, or contributions.  Court fees received by the court from an offender may be collected and deposited in the drug court account.

Assumptions:  

At this time the Wyoming Department of Health is unable to determine the revenue that may be generated by these resources.

It is also anticipated that local drug courts may need to allocate additional grant dollars totaling $920,000 per year for additional staff to implement the relapse and recidivism evaluations at one, two, and five years after successful completion of the drug court program.  This potential increased cost would reduce funding that has previously been obligated to other costs of the drug courts.

Assumptions:

It is estimated that a total of 23 local drug courts would need to employ one FTE to implement the relapse and recidivism evaluation with a cost of $40,000 per year for each position.

The fiscal impact to the judicial system is indeterminable due to an unknown number of cases.

Prepared by:   Matthew Sackett, LSO   Phone:   777-7881

(Information provided by Korin Schmidt and Mary Hazzard, WDH;

Phone: 777-3365 and 777-7934 respectively; and Holly Hansen, Supreme Court; Phone: 777-7678.)