MINUTES
Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations
August 15, 2002

I. CALL TO ORDER\ROLL CALL

The Louisiana Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations met on August 15, 2002, in Senate Committee Room E.

Chairman Harris called the meeting to order and asked the Secretary to call the roll. The following was noted:

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Representative Jane Smith made a motion to approve the minutes from July, 2002 meeting. Seconded by Senator Lambert Boissiere. There being no objection the minutes were adopted.

III. RECEIVE COMMITTEE REPORTS

Mr. Blaise Carriere presented the Public Works and Judicial System report from July 11, 2002. The Public Works and Judicial System Subcommittee addressed the funding of the corrections and prisoners. Testimony was provided by the following:

• Trey Boudreaux, Undersecretary, Department of Corrections

• Bob Gebrian, City of New Orleans

Mr. Boudreaux gave an overview of the Department of Corrections and its funding streams for state prisoners. The department currently has 103, 000 individuals in its custody. Approximately 19,000 are in state institutions, 16,000 are in local facilities, 9,000 are in juvenile institutions and 58,000 are under probation and parole supervision. The budget for the department is approximately $620,000,000.

The department has 16,800 inmates housed in parish facilities as a partnership with local sheriffs and local governing authorities. The current reimbursement rate for housing state inmates in local facilities is $22.39 per day which equates to about $8,000 per year. In comparison, state institutions currently average about $41 per day which is about $15,000 per year and the system wide average is about $32 per day, or $12,000 per year. For juveniles pending secure placement, 1,400 juveniles in state institutions, the cost is $86.79 per day and that figure will be adjusted by the CPI, at about 2 ½%. For juveniles pending non-secure placement into non-residential programs, the cost is $22.39 per day.

Mr. Boudreaux explained that institutional growth is down in the state. Three years ago we were growing at a rate of 3,000 per year. That rate has decreased to about 800 inmates per year. While the rate decrease is good news for the state - the crime rate and the residual effect of growth of inmates is going down, it is bad news for local communities who have bought or built additional beds for the construction of jails. There is a quota system with local sheriffs in which the department requires a certain number of inmates be transferred into the state institutions to keep state beds full because that cost remains no matter the vacancies.

Bob Gebrian with the city of New Orleans explained the corrections funding from the local government side. He acknowledged that New Orleans is in a unique situation because it operates under a federal consent decree which requires it to pay $19.65 per day for every prisoner the criminal sheriff is not entitled to be reimbursed by some other entity. The consent decree also requires a yearly payment of $3.2 million for medical costs and any associated costs that the sheriff incurs. Additionally, the city must pay for the sheriffs' employees hospitalization, workmen's compensation, utilities, fuel and other associated costs for a cost of about $30 per day. The city pays on average, $30 million a year to the sheriff for the city's responsibility for inmates.

Next Steps/Recommendations:

The subcommittee expressed concern over the problem of a person arrested and charged with a state crime whose cost of incarceration is not paid for by the state until the person is actually convicted. The subcommittee determined it would make a recommendation that the state pay retroactively for the cost of incarceration for a person charged with a state crime who in convicted of that state crime. Additionally, the subcommittee determined this might be accomplished in a "phase-down" system where the state would assume responsibility for a portion of the payment of these prisoners over a five to ten-year period.

The committee also expressed interest in the feasibility of regionalizing incarceration facilities.

Mr. Arthur Cooper reported on the General Services meeting of July. The committee conducted a hearing relative to tourism issues. Although the committee lacked a quorum, testimony was taken from Mr. Matt Jones, Undersecretary of the Department of Culture, Recreational and Tourism.

Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial
A major program which will be the most concentrated tourism effort put forth during the current administration.

Audubon Golf Trail
An endeavor to compete with other states around the country which have golf trails in place. The department uses a unique approach by utilizing privately owned golf courses already in existence, thus saves the initial start-up/construction costs.

POW WOW
The office of tourism recently hosted a conference in New Orleans called POW WOW which is the largest international trade conference in the world. Attendance for the conference was estimated at 5,400 attendees.

State Parks System
There are a number of state parks throughout the state that are being renovated and expanded. For the first time in the history of the state, over two million visitors have utilized the state parks system.

State Library System
The state library system is used in conjunction with local government because there is state aid to local programs which distribute about $1.5 million to the parish library system.

Chairman Harris presented the report for the subcommittee on Education, Health, Social Services and State Fees. Having received testimony from the Department of Health and Hospitals, the Department of Education, and the School Boards Association, the subcommittee decided it would receive testimony relative to social services and state fees.

Staff was requested to contact the Department of Social Services and related local agencies to schedule testimony for the August 8 subcommittee meeting.

Ms. Susan Gordon of the Local Municipal Association discussed the effect of state fees on local government, in particular those required by the office of public health, the fire marshall and the Department of Environmental Quality. The staff was directed to research state fees which directly effect local governments and to prepare a list of such fees for the August meeting. Based on that list, the subcommittee will determine which state departments or offices and other related agencies or organizations will be requested to provide testimony at the September meeting.

Chairman Harris asked if ACIR had a website and if not, could there be a website so the subcommittee reports could be reviewed on the internet.

IV. OTHER BUSINESS

Brookie Allphin spoke to members of the commission. She advised of a revision of schedule to bring the ACIR toward the deadline that needs to be met by January, 2003 in order to provide the legislature with a report. The September and October meetings will be spent in subcommittee meetings for the remaining topics that the subcommittee's will take testimony on. We should have enough information to answer most of the questions that were on the outline discussion which has been guiding us through this process. Dr. Allphin advised that on November 14th we are scheduling an all day workshop for all commission members. We are going to put all of this information together in a division of information by service areas which will be in an agenda format for this meeting. This will also be a time for all associated groups to speak who have not previously had the opportunity to do so thus far. After this meeting, we will have the outline for the report. By December 9th, we hope that the commission members will have a draft of this workshop report, which need to be approved by January 30, 2003. Dr. Allphin thanked members of the commission in particularly the staff who has been putting all of this together every month.

Chairman Harris advised that one of the commission members, Joel Richert from the School Boards Association had submitted his resignation and he is awaiting another appointee from the school board association to fill the vacant seat.

IV. ADJOURNMENT

Senator Lambert Boissiere made a motion to adjourn. Motion seconded by Mr. Timothy Roussel. There being no objection, the meeting was adjourned.

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Mayor Ronnie Harris
Chairman