HB0240 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 03199 RLJ 13216 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB0240

Introduced 1/20/2009, by Rep. Keith P. Sommer

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

30 ILCS 608/5-5
30 ILCS 608/5-12 new
30 ILCS 608/5-15 new

Amends the State Facilities Closure Act. Creates the Correctional Facilities Panel. Provides that the Panel shall perform a detailed examination of the State's correctional facilities and the respective populations and workforces of the facilities. Sets forth the membership of the panel. Provides that no correctional facility managed or operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections may be closed, eliminated, or otherwise required to reduce its 2008 average daily population or average daily workforce by more than 20% prior to the completion of the submission of the final report by the Correctional Facilities Panel. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning finance.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The State Facilities Closure Act is amended by changing Section 5-5 and by adding Sections 5-12 and 5-15 as follows:

(30 ILCS 608/5-5)

Sec. 5-5. Definitions. In this Act:

"Commission" means the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

"State facility" means any facility (i) that is owned and operated by the State or leased and operated by the State and (ii) that is the primary stationary work location for 25 or more State employees. "State facility" does not include any facility under the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, including the Auditor General, or the judicial branch.

"Correctional Facilities Panel" means the study panel created and authorized in Section 5-15 of this Act.

(Source: P.A. 93-839, eff. 7-30-04; 93-1067, eff. 1-15-05.)

(30 ILCS 608/5-12 new)

Sec. 5-12. Correctional facilities closure moratorium. Beginning on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly, no correctional facility managed or operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections may be closed, eliminated, or otherwise required to reduce its 2008 average daily population or average daily workforce by more than 20% prior to the completion of the required review by the Correctional Facilities Panel and submission of the panel's final report as required in Section 5-15 of this Act.

(30 ILCS 608/5-15 new)

Sec. 5-15. Correctional Facilities Panel.

(a) The Correctional Facilities Panel is hereby created and shall be comprised of the Director of the Department of Corrections, or his or her designee; 4 members of the General Assembly: one appointed by the President of the Senate, one appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate, one appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and one appointed by the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives; 2 representatives of the employees who work within the State's prisons, to be appointed by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability; and 2 persons or representatives of organizations with expertise in prisons, correctional facilities, or prison populations, to be appointed by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

All members of the Panel are to be appointed within 90 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 96th General Assembly.

(b) The Correctional Facilities Panel shall review the physical condition, the size and composition of the inmate population, and any specific and immediate needs of each correctional facility managed or operated by the State.

(c) The Panel is authorized to hold public hearings, take testimony, and request detailed and specific information relating to the inmate population, staff, or both of any individual correctional facility managed or operated by the State, as well as the State's prison system at large.

Any data or information requested from any agency of the State, including but not limited to the Department of Corrections, is to be provided within 30 days of any written request for information being submitted by the Panel. If the requested information or data is not available within 30 days, the head of the agency to which the request was originally submitted shall provide the Panel, in writing, a detailed explanation as to why the data or information requested cannot be timely provided, whether the information exists, and when it can be expected to be received by the Panel.

(d) The review conducted by the Panel must include, but not be limited to, a detailed composition of (i) current prison populations and their respective requirements for effective reform, (ii) the geographical location of inmate families and their respective needs, (iii) employee locations, staffing levels, and the demands being placed on prison staffs within the State, (iv) the physical condition of each of the State's correctional facilities and their respective needs, (v) the potential necessity for a geriatric correctional facility in Illinois, and (vi) the economic impacts created, at both the State and local levels, by each of the State's correctional facilities, with special attention given to any correctional facility recommended to be immediately or abruptly decommissioned and their respective populations moved throughout the remainder of the State's prison system.

(e) The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability shall provide staff and administrative assistance to the Correctional Facilities Panel. All agencies of the State must cooperate to the fullest extent possible to assist the Correctional Facilities Panel in the completion of its work.

(f) The Panel shall perform a detailed examination of the State's correctional facilities and the respective populations and workforces of the facilities, including information concerning the families of the inmates and staff of the facility. The Panel shall issue its findings and recommendations in a final report to the General Assembly outlining a long-term objective plan for the State's correctional facilities, the populations they hold, and the workforce needed to best protect the citizens of Illinois. The final report must be submitted to the General Assembly no later than September 1, 2010.

(g) Sixty days after submission of its final report to the General Assembly, the Correctional Facilities Panel shall be dissolved.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.