§ 9-6-19 — Detention and corrections workforce capacity building

fund; detention and corrections workforce capacity building fund committee; administration; distribution of funds; grant criteria. A. The "detention and corrections workforce capacity building fund" is created in the state treasury to support efforts to increase the available workforce of detention officers, including initiatives to recruit and retain high-quality detention officers. The fund consists of appropriations, gifts, grants and donations. Money in the fund is subject to appropriation by the legislature. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall revert to the general fund unless an appropriation provides a different period for expenditure. B. The department of finance and administration shall administer the fund to: (1) provide grant disbursements pursuant to Subsection J of this section; and (2) fund administrative costs necessary to carry out the provisions of this section, including such administrative costs that are necessary to evaluate the efficacy of initiatives implemented by grantees to increase the available workforce of detention officers and such administrative costs that are determined, in consultation with the committee, to be necessary to conduct workload studies, including studies of retention and hiring challenges, the results of which shall be used by the committee to improve the structure and criteria of the provisions of this section and to develop recommendations from the committee for policy or program measures to be considered by the legislature; provided that the amount expended for administrative costs shall not exceed three percent of the total appropriations to the fund. C. Disbursements from the fund shall be made on warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the chair of the committee. D. The "detention and corrections workforce capacity building fund committee" is created and is administratively attached to the department of finance and administration. The committee consists of the following four voting members: (1) one member who is employed by the corrections department, to be appointed by the secretary of corrections; (2) one member who is employed by a local jail in the state, to be appointed by the New Mexico association of counties; (3) one member who is the county manager of a county government in the state that operates a local jail, to be appointed by the New Mexico association of counties; and (4) one member who is employed by the department of finance and administration, to be appointed by the secretary of finance and administration. E. The committee shall elect a chair from among its membership. F. The committee shall: (1) conduct meetings once per year or more often as necessary to carry out its duties at the times and locations that the committee designates; (2) develop criteria for the awarding of grants as provided in Subsection N of this section; (3) periodically review the award criteria and recommend any amendments to the criteria based on the results of any workload studies or evaluations of grantee initiatives; (4) award grants to detention facilities as provided in Subsections J through M of this section; (5) collect information about initiative expenditures from grantees as provided in Subsection Q of this section; (6) report applicant and grantee information as provided in Subsection R of this section; and (7) disseminate information regarding the program and application process to all eligible entities. G. A majority of the members of the committee constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business. H. A member of the committee shall not review or vote on a proposal made by an applicant with whom the member is employed. I. Administrative and other necessary support shall be provided to the committee by the department of finance and administration. J. The committee may allocate: (1) up to twenty-eight percent of the money in the fund, less administrative costs as provided in Paragraph (2) of Subsection B of this section, for grants awarded to entities located within a county with a population of at least five hundred thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census; and (2) any amount of available money remaining in the fund for grants awarded to entities located within a county with a population of less than five hundred thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census. K. For purposes of Subsection J of this section, if applicants located within different counties apply jointly for a grant, the applicants, if awarded a grant, would each receive an award amount based on that individual applicant's county. L. Any local jail is eligible to apply for a grant; provided that the local jail is in compliance with applicable statutory reporting requirements, including those described in Sections 33-3-4 and 33-16-5 NMSA 1978. M. The corrections department and all of its corrections facilities are eligible to apply for a grant; provided that: (1) the application for a grant proposes to undertake initiatives in collaboration with a local jail; (2) the corrections department is in compliance with applicable statutory reporting requirements, including those described in Subsection F of Section 31-20-2 NMSA 1978, Subsection C of Section 33-15-3 NMSA 1978 and Sections 9-3-9, 33-9-10 and 33-16-5 NMSA 1978, and all reporting requirements for appropriations that have not been fully expended by the department and have not reverted to the general fund or any other fund; and (3) for purposes of Subsection J of this section, the primary jurisdiction of the corrections department or corrections facility shall be based on the primary jurisdiction of the local jail with which the department or the corrections facility has proposed to collaborate. N. The committee shall develop grant criteria to guide its determination for the awarding of a grant, and the criteria shall: (1) take into consideration an applicant's detention officer vacancy rate; (2) take into consideration cost of living and comparable market compensation for an applicant's locality; (3) take into consideration an applicant's average daily inmate population over the most recent fiscal year; (4) take into consideration the ratio of an applicant's number of employed detention officers to the average daily inmate population over the most recent fiscal year; (5) prioritize, in its consideration, an applicant's proposal for initiatives that target the recruitment of candidates who are experienced detention officers not currently employed by a local jail within the state or the corrections department; (6) prioritize, in its consideration, an applicant's proposal for initiatives to be undertaken in collaboration between local jails and between one or more local jails and the corrections department; and (7) prioritize, in its consideration, an applicant that provides detention services to two or more counties. O. A grantee may use a grant award to: (1) provide a recruitment differential disbursement to newly hired detention officers, including a recruitment differential disbursement for relocation expenses; provided that the detention officer remains employed as a detention officer with that same local jail or the corrections department for one additional year; (2) provide a retention differential disbursement to detention officers already employed by the applicant for the purpose of retention; provided that the detention officer remains employed as a detention officer with that same local jail or the corrections department for one additional year; (3) implement professional development initiatives designed to recruit, train and retain detention officers, including tuition reimbursement and developing and conducting a core training academy for detention officers employed by local jails in collaboration with the corrections department or the department of public safety; and (4) implement campaigns to recruit in-state and out-of-state candidates. P. A grantee shall not use a grant: (1) for recurring initiatives, except the grantee may use a grant for a recurring initiative if the grantee has provided a plan to replace nonrecurring funds with recurring funds to fund that initiative; or (2) to create new detention officer positions or fund the base salary of existing detention officer positions. Q. A grantee shall provide to the committee within ninety days of receiving a grant, and then every ninety days thereafter until the earliest of either the completion of the grantee's initiative or all funds are expended, a report of the grantee's expenditures for the grantee's initiative. Any unexpended money remaining after the completion of the grantee's initiative shall revert to the fund within sixty days of completion of the initiative. R. The committee shall provide at least one annual report by November 1 of each fiscal year to the department of finance and administration and the legislative finance committee that contains: (1) applicant information, including information about the applicant detention facility, the grant amount requested and the title and description of the applicant's proposed initiative; (2) individual grantee information, including information about the grantee's detention facility, the grant amount awarded and the title and description of the grantee's initiative; (3) data collected and evaluations made by the department of finance and administration about the efficacy of the initiatives of prior award recipients; and (4) the status of any ongoing workload studies and the results of any workload studies completed since the time of the prior report. S. As used in this section: (1) "committee" means the detention and corrections workforce capacity building fund committee; (2) "corrections facility" means any facility or program controlled or operated by the state or any of its agencies or departments and supported wholly or in part by state funds for the correctional care of persons, including the penitentiary of New Mexico, which consists of the penitentiary of Santa Fe and other places in the state designated by the secretary of corrections, but not including a facility operated by a private independent contractor pursuant to an agreement with the corrections department; (3) "detention facility" means a local jail or corrections facility; (4) "detention officer" means any employee of the corrections department or a local jail who has inmate custodial responsibilities; (5) "fund" means the detention and corrections workforce capacity building fund; and (6) "local jail" means a facility operated by a county, municipality or combination of such local governments and used for the confinement of persons charged with or convicted of a violation of a law or ordinance, but does not include a facility operated by a private independent contractor pursuant to an agreement with a county, municipality or combination of such local governments.

Legislative History

1978 Comp., § 9-6-19, enacted by Laws 2023, ch. 188, § 3.