HB2734ham001 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Robert S. Molaro

Filed: 3/27/2007

09500HB2734ham001 LRB095 01030 RLC 33171 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2734

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2734 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Drug School Act.

Section 5. Findings; purpose. The General Assembly finds as follows:

(1) One of the many objectives of the Illinois criminal justice system is individual rehabilitation.

(2) The incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders with families breaks the family unit.

(3) The recidivism rate of nonviolent drug offenders in Illinois is 53%.

(4) Nonviolent drug offenders are in need of alternatives to incarceration such as counseling and treatment.

(5) Drug addiction is recognized as a health issue around the country.

(6) The Cook County State's Attorney drug school program has a success rate of over 85%.

(7) The State of Illinois spends $22,607 on one adult incarceration.

(8) The State of Illinois will save more than 17,000,000 if treatment programs are offered in lieu of incarceration.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a drug school program for nonviolent drug offenders statewide modeled after the Cook County State's Attorney drug school program.

Section 10. Definition. As used in this Act, "drug school" means a drug intervention and education program established and administered by the State's Attorney's Office of a particular county as an alternative to traditional prosecution. A drug school shall include, but not be limited to, the following core components:

(1) No less than 10 and no more than 20 hours of drug education delivered by an organization licensed, certified or otherwise authorized by the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse or Division of Community Health and Prevention to provide treatment, prevention, intervention, education or other such services. This education is to be delivered at least once per week at a class of no less than one hour and no greater than 4 hours, and with a class size no larger than 40 individuals.

(2) Curriculum designed to present the harmful effects of drug use on the individual, family and community, including the relationship between drug use and criminal behavior, as well as instruction regarding the application procedure for the sealing and expungement of records of arrest and any other record of the proceedings of the case for which the individual was mandated to attend the drug school.

(3) Education regarding the practical consequences of conviction and continued justice involvement. Such consequences of drug use will include the negative physiological, psychological, societal, familial, and legal areas. Additionally, the practical limitations imposed by a drug conviction on one's vocational, educational, financial, and residential options will be addressed.

(4) A process for monitoring and reporting attendance such that the State's Attorney in the county where the drug school is being operated is informed of class attendance no more than 48 hours after each class.

(5) A process for capturing data on drug school participants, including but not limited to total individuals served, demographics of those individuals, rates of attendance, and frequency of future justice involvement for drug school participants.

Section 15. Authorization.

(a) Each State's Attorney may establish a drug school operated under the terms of this Act. The purpose of the drug school shall be to provide an alternative to prosecution by identifying drug-involved individuals for the purpose of intervening with their drug use before their criminal involvement becomes severe. The State's Attorney shall identify what constitutes an acceptable criminal history in determining eligibility for the drug school. Only those participants who successfully complete the requirements of the drug school, as certified by the State's Attorney, are eligible to apply for the sealing and expungement of records of arrest and any other record of the proceedings of the case for which the individual was mandated to attend the drug school.

(b) A State's Attorney seeking to establish a drug school may apply to the Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse of the Illinois Department of Human Services ("DASA") for funding to establish and operate a drug school within his or her respective county. Nothing in this subsection shall prevent State's Attorneys from establishing drug schools within their counties without funding from the DASA.

(c) Nothing in this Act shall prevent 2 or more State's Attorneys from applying jointly for funding as provided in subsection (b) for the purpose of establishing a drug school that serves multiple counties.

(d) Drug schools established through funding from DASA shall operate according to the guidelines established thereby and the provisions of this Act.

Section 20. Eligibility.

(a) The State's Attorney, alone, in each county where a drug school is established shall have the authority to determine which individuals, who would otherwise be prosecuted under the relevant provisions of Illinois law, may be eligible to participate in the drug school in lieu of prosecution.

(b) A defendant may be admitted into drug school only upon the agreement of the prosecutor and the defendant.

Section 25. Process.

(a) The State's Attorney, alone, in each county where a drug school is established shall determine who is eligible to participate in the drug school in lieu of prosecution. Considerations in making such a determination shall include the crime committed, the circumstances of the crime or of the individual under consideration, and whether or not the State's Attorney believes that the individual would benefit from participation in the drug school.

(b) The judge shall inform the defendant that if the defendant fails to meet the conditions of drug school, eligibility to participate in the program may be revoked and the defendant may be prosecuted under the criminal laws of this State and sentenced as provided in the Unified Code of Corrections for the crime charged.

(c) The defendant shall execute a written agreement as to his or her participation in the drug school program and shall agree to all of the terms and conditions of the program, including but not limited to the possibility of prosecution for the crime charged for failing to abide or comply with the terms of the drug school program or for any arrest incurred subsequent to entry into the drug school program.

Section 30. Successful Completion. If an individual is certified by the State's Attorney that he or she has successfully completed the terms of the drug school, the State's Attorney shall waive prosecution for the immediate offense and discharge the case.

Section 35. Violations. Upon a violation of the any of the terms of the drug school, the State's Attorney may proceed with prosecution as otherwise authorized under law.

Section 40. Drug School Fund.

(a) The Drug School Fund is created as a fund in the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse ("DASA"). The Fund shall be administered by DASA to provide moneys for the appropriations to be made, grants to be awarded, and compensation and expenses to be paid under this Act. All interest earned from the investment or deposit of moneys accumulated in the Drug School Fund shall, under Section 4.1 of the State Finance Act, be deposited into the Fund.

(b) Moneys deposited into the Fund shall not be considered general revenue of the State of Illinois.

(c) Moneys deposited into the Fund shall be used exclusively for the purposes of providing funding for the establishment and operation of drug schools in the State of Illinois, and shall not be appropriated, loaned, or in any manner transferred to the General Revenue Fund of the State of Illinois.

(d) Every fiscal year the Treasurer shall transfer from the General Revenue Fund to the Drug School Fund an amount equal to the full amount of moneys appropriated by the General Assembly (both by original and supplemental appropriation), less any unexpended balance from the previous fiscal year, from the Drug School Fund for the specific purpose of making funding available for the establishment and operation of drug schools. State's Attorneys from each of the 101 counties in the State of Illinois other than Cook County may make annual requests for appropriations from the Drug School Fund.

(e) The State's Attorney in Cook County shall request an appropriation to DASA for expenses incurred by the Cook County State's Attorney for operation of its drug school program.

(f) State's Attorney's from each of the 102 counties in the State of Illinois may each request supplemental appropriations from the Drug School Fund during the fiscal year.

(g) Moneys in the Drug School Fund shall be expended only as follows:

(1) To provide State's Attorneys with funding for establishing and operating drug schools. State's Attorneys in any county other than Cook County seeking funding for drug school expenses may request that DASA certify the expenses as reasonable, necessary, and appropriate for payment from the Drug School Fund, on a form created by DASA. Upon certification of the expenses and delivery of the certification to DASA, DASA shall pay the expenses directly from the Drug School Fund if there are sufficient moneys in the Fund to pay the expenses.

(2) Moneys shall be appropriated to DASA to enable DASA (i) to make grants to Cook County, (ii) to pay the expenses of drug school programs in counties other than Cook County and (iii) to pay the expenses of administering the Drug School Fund. All expenditures and grants made from the Drug School Fund shall be subject to audit by the Auditor General.

(3) For Cook County, grants from the Drug School Fund shall be made and administered as follows:

(A) For each State fiscal year, the State's Attorney must make a separate application to DASA for drug school fund grants.

(B) DASA shall establish rules and procedures for grant applications. The rules shall require the Cook County Treasurer as the grant recipient to report on a periodic basis to DASA how much of the grant has been expended, how much of the grant is remaining, and the purposes for which the grant has been used. The rules may also require the Cook County Treasurer to certify on a periodic basis that expenditures of the funds have been made for expenses that are reasonable, necessary, and appropriate for payment from the Drug School Fund.

(C) DASA shall make the grants to the Cook County Treasurer as soon as possible after the beginning of the State fiscal year.

(D) The State's Attorney may apply for supplemental grants during the fiscal year.

(E) Grant moneys shall be paid to the Cook County Treasurer in block grants and held in a separate account for the State's Attorney for the designated fiscal year, and are not subject to county appropriation and are not intended to supplant monies currently expended by Cook County to operate its drug school program. Cook County is required to maintain its efforts with regard to its drug school program.

(F) Expenditure of grant moneys under this subsection (g) is subject to audit by the Auditor General.

(G) The Cook County Treasurer shall immediately make payment from the appropriate separate account in the county treasury for capital litigation expenses to the State's Attorney, upon order of the State's Attorney.

(H) If the Drug School Fund is discontinued or dissolved by an Act of the General Assembly or by operation of law, any balance remaining in the Drug School Fund shall be returned to the General Revenue Fund after deduction of administrative costs, any other provision of this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.

(h) State's Attorneys receiving monies from the Drug School Fund shall each report separately to the General Assembly by January 1, 2008 and each and every following January 1 for as long as the Drug School Fund is in existence, detailing the amounts of money received by them through this Act, the uses for which those funds were expended, the balances then in the Drug School Fund or county accounts, as the case may be, dedicated to them for the use and support of drug school. The report shall describe and discuss the need for continued funding through the Fund and contain any suggestions for changes to this Act.".