COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 4057
(By Delegates Givens, Douglas,
Fleischauer, Facemyer and Trump)
(Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 3, 1998]
A BILL to repeal section one-a, article twenty, chapter thirty-one
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact sections two
and five of said article, all relating to the powers and
duties of the regional jail and correctional facility
authority; authorizing the regional jail and correctional
facility authority to construct new facilities or renovate
existing facilities to be used for secure predisposition
detention of juveniles, for juvenile transfer facilities and
for juvenile correctional facilities; and reducing the number
of members of the regional jail and correctional facility
standards commission.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one-a, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be repealed; and that sections two and five of said article be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY AUTHORITY.
§31-20-2. Definitions.
Unless the context indicates clearly otherwise, as used in
this article:
(a) "Authority" or "West Virginia Regional Jail Authority"
means the West Virginia regional jail and correctional facility
authority created by this article.
(b) "Board" means the governing body of the authority.
(c) "Bonds" means bonds of the authority issued under this
article.
(d) "Cost of construction or renovation of a local jail
facility, or regional jail facility or juvenile facility" means the
cost of all lands, water areas, property rights and easements,
financing charges, interest prior to and during construction and
for a period not exceeding six months following the completion of
construction, equipment, engineering and legal services, plans,
specifications and surveys, estimates of costs and other expenses
necessary or incidental to determining the feasibility or
practicability of any such project, together with such other
expenses as may be necessary or incidental to the financing and the
construction or renovation of such facilities and the placing of
same in operation.
(e) "County" means any county of this state.
(f) "Federal agency" means the United States of America and
any department, corporation, agency or instrumentality created,
designated or established by the United States of America.
(g) "Fund" means the regional jail and correctional facility
development fund as provided for in section ten of this article.
(h) "Government" means state and federal government, and any
political subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, corporate
or otherwise.
(i) "Inmate" means any adult person properly committed to a
local or regional jail facility or a correctional facility.
(j) "Local jail facility" means any county facility for the
confinement, custody, supervision or control of adult persons
convicted of misdemeanors, awaiting trial or awaiting
transportation to a state correctional facility.
(k) "Municipality" means any city, town or village in this
state.
(l) "Notes" means any notes as defined in section one hundred
four, article three, chapter forty-six of this code issued under
this article by the authority.
(m) "Correctional facility" means any correctional facility,
penitentiary, detention center or other correctional institution
operated by the department division of corrections or the division
of juvenile services.
(n) "Regional jail facility" or "regional jail" means any
facility operated by the authority and used jointly by two or more
counties for the confinement, custody, supervision or control of
adult persons convicted of misdemeanors or awaiting trial or
awaiting transportation to a state correctional facility.
(o) "Regional jail commission" means the commission
established in section eight of this article.
(p) "Revenues" means all fees, charges, moneys, profits,
payments of principal of, or interest on, loans and other
investments, grants, contributions and all other income received by
the authority.
(q) "Security interest" means an interest in the loan
portfolio of the authority which interest is secured by an
underlying loan or loans and is evidenced by a note issued by the
authority.
(r) "Work farm" shall have has the same meaning as that term
is used in section twelve, article eight, chapter seven of this
code authorizing work farms for individual counties.
§31-20-5. Powers and duties of the authority; bidding procedures.
The regional jail and correctional facility authority shall
complete a comprehensive study of all correctional facilities and
jail facilities in the state of West Virginia no later than the
first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-six. This
study shall include an assessment of the physical conditions of confinement within the institutions and the relative need for the
institutions when considering other available institutions of
confinement located within the state.
After completing this study, the authority shall submit a plan
to the governor on the establishment of regional jails in this
state and the acquisition, construction or renovation of facilities
for correctional facilities. The authority shall specify groups of
counties within the state to be formed into regions for the
establishment of such regional jails. Within each region a local
jail commission shall be established and have the powers and duties
as set forth in section six of this article.
The authority shall consider, but not be limited to, the
following when creating the plan establishing regions:
(1) The relative physical condition of the correctional
facilities and jail facilities located within the state;
(2) The transportation costs associated with the establishment
of centralized jail services, including, but not limited to, the
costs of transporting persons incarcerated in regional jails to
court appearances, to interviews with their attorneys, and to have
visitation with their families and friends, all in any county seat
of a county served by the regional facility: Provided, That
consideration of such costs in the creation of the plan shall not
be construed to require the transportation of inmates to interviews
with their attorneys or to have visitation with their families and friends when visitation facilities and schedules are established in
regional jails;
(3) The availability of medical services and educational and
recreational opportunities;
(4) Information received from public hearings;
(5) The relative efficiency in the cost of jail services
caused by establishment of regional jail facilities;
(6) Available facilities which may be used as regional jails
or correctional facilities including, but not limited to, existing
county and state owned properties: Provided, That if the
authority determines that an existing facility meets the standards
or could reasonably be made to meet the standards for a regional
jail or other correctional facility, the authority may proceed to
acquire such existing facility and compensate the owner thereof in
an amount not less than any local share expended by the owner as
matching moneys for the receipt of federal funds: Provided,
however, That if the authority determines that an existing facility
does not meet the standards or could not reasonably be made to meet
the standards for a regional jail or other correctional facility,
the authority shall provide the owner with a written statement
setting forth the reasons supporting such determination;
(7) The cost of acquiring, constructing, renovating, operating
and maintaining local jail facilities for use as local holding
facilities in each county and regional jail facilities for each county and the financing provided by this article;
(8) The leasing of any available portion of any regional jail
space and the leasing of available facilities of any regional jail
to the West Virginia department division of corrections for the
keeping and detaining of prisoners sentenced to serve terms of
incarceration under the custody of the West Virginia department
division of corrections for nonviolent crimes and to contract with
the department division of corrections for the providing of food,
clothing, shelter and any and all incidental costs in the care,
control and maintenance of such prisoners: Provided, That such
leasing does not restrict space or facilities needed for the
detention of county prisoners;
(9) The advisability and cost effectiveness of acquiring,
constructing, renovating, operating and maintaining work farms
serving one or more counties or regions; and
(10) The proximity of possible sites for the regional jail
facilities to residential areas, schools, churches and other public
buildings and facilities.
Public hearings pursuant to this section shall be held by the
authority in convenient locations throughout the state. No less
than ten public hearings shall be held for public comment on the
establishment of regional jails. The authority shall cause to be
published at least two weeks in advance of a hearing a Class II-0
legal advertisement, as provided in section two, article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, setting forth the reason for the
hearing and the time, place and date thereof. The publication area
shall be each county which may be included in a region for the
purposes of a regional jail with the county in which the public
hearing is held.
In addition to the hearing requirements above, before
beginning construction of a new facility for use as a regional jail
or correctional facility or before beginning renovation or
acquisition of an existing facility for use as a regional jail
facility, which existing facility is not already a jail,
correctional facility or secure facility for the detention of
juveniles or persons otherwise involuntarily committed or confined,
the authority shall hold a hearing for comment by all members of
the public on all aspects relating to the advisability of the use
of the site for that regional jail facility. The authority shall
promulgate legislative rules pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of
this code for the requirements for notice and other procedures of
said public hearings, which requirements shall be as similar as
practicable to those hearings conducted regarding the construction
of bridges by the West Virginia department of highways.
(a) The regional jail and correctional facility authority, as
a public corporation and governmental instrumentality exercising
public powers of the state, may exercise all powers necessary or
appropriate to carry out the purposes of this article, including, but not limited to, the power following powers:
(a) (1) To acquire, own, hold and dispose of property, real
and personal, tangible and intangible.;
(b) (2) To lease property, whether as lessee or lessor.;
(c) (3) To mortgage or otherwise grant security interests in
its property.;
(d) (4) To conduct examinations and investigations and to hear
testimony and take proof, under oath or affirmation at public or
private hearings, on any matter relevant to this article and
necessary for information on the construction or renovation of any
adult correctional facility or juvenile facility or the
establishment of any correctional facility industries project.;
(e) (5) To issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of
witnesses and the production of books and papers relevant to any
hearing before such authority or one or more members appointed by
it to conduct any hearing.
(f) (6) To apply to the circuit court having venue of such
offense to have punished for contempt any witness who refuses to
obey a subpoena, refuses to be sworn or affirmed, or refuses to
testify, or who commits any contempt after being summoned to
appear.;
(g) (7) To sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, and
complain and defend in any court.;.
(h) (8) To adopt, use and alter at will a corporate seal.;
(i) (9) To make bylaws for the management and regulation of
its affairs pursuant to article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of
this code.;
(j) (10) To appoint officers, agents and employees.;
(k) (11) To make contracts of every kind and nature and to
execute all instruments necessary or convenient for carrying on its
business, including contracts with any other governmental agency of
this state or of the federal government or with any person,
individual, partnership or corporation to effect any or all of the
purposes of this article.;
(l) (12) Without in any way limiting any other subdivision of
this section, to To accept grants from and enter into contracts and
other transactions with any federal agency.;
(m) (13) To borrow money and to issue its negotiable bonds,
security interests or notes and to provide for and secure the
payment thereof, and to provide for the rights of the holders
thereof, and to purchase, hold and dispose of any of its bonds,
security interests or notes: Provided, That no bond or other
obligation may be issued or incurred unless and until the
Legislature by concurrent resolution has approved the purpose and
amount of each project for which proceeds from the issuance of such
bond or other obligation will be used.;
(n) (14) To sell, at public or private sale, any bond or
other negotiable instrument, security interest or obligation of the authority in such manner and upon such terms as the authority
considers would best serve the purposes of this article.
(o) (15) To issue its bonds, security interests and notes
payable solely from the revenues or other funds available to the
authority therefor; and the authority may issue its bonds, security
interests or notes in such principal amounts as it considers
necessary to provide funds for any purposes under this article,
including:
(1) (A) The payment, funding or refunding of the principal
of, interest on or redemption premiums on, any bonds, security
interests or notes issued by it whether the bonds, security
interests, notes or interest to be funded or refunded have or have
not become due.;
(2) (B) The establishment or increase of reserves to secure
or to pay bonds, security interests, notes or the interest thereon
and all other costs or expenses of the authority incident to and
necessary or convenient to carry out its corporate purposes and
powers. Any bonds, security interests or notes may be additionally
secured by a pledge of any revenues, funds, assets or moneys of the
authority from any source whatsoever.;
(p) (16) To issue renewal notes or security interests, to
issue bonds to pay notes or security interests and, whenever it
considers refunding expedient, to refund any bonds by the issuance
of new bonds, whether the bonds to be refunded have or have not matured except that no such renewal notes shall be issued to mature
more than ten years from date of issuance of the notes renewed and
no such refunding bonds may be issued to mature more than twenty- five years from the date of issuance.;
(q) (17) To apply the proceeds from the sale of renewal
notes, security interests or refunding bonds to the purchase,
redemption or payment of the notes, security interests or bonds to
be refund.;
(r) (18) To accept gifts or grants of property, funds,
security interests, money, materials, labor, supplies or services
from the United States of America or from any governmental unit or
any person, firm or corporation, and to carry out the terms or
provisions of, or make agreements with respect to, or pledge, any
gifts or grants, and to do any and all things necessary, useful,
desirable or convenient in connection with the procuring,
acceptance or disposition of gifts or grants.;
(s) (19) To the extent permitted under its contracts with the
holders of bonds, security interests or notes of the authority, to
consent to any modification of the rate of interest, time of
payment of any installment of principal or interest, security or
any other term of any bond, security interest, note or contract or
agreement of any kind to which the authority is a party.;
(t) (20) To sell security interests in the loan portfolio of
the authority. Such security interests shall be evidenced by instruments issued by the authority. Proceeds from the sale of
security interests may be issued in the same manner and for the
same purposes as bond and note revenues.;
(u) To promulgate rules, in accordance with the provisions of
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to implement and make effective
the powers, duties and responsibilities invested in the authority
by the provisions of this article and otherwise by law.
(v) (21) To assume the responsibility for operation and
management of regional jail facilities under the jurisdiction of
the state regional jail and correctional facility authority. The
authority shall provide for the transportation of inmates between
the regional jails and local holding facilities for court
appearances.
(w) (22) To exercise all power and authority provided in this
article necessary and convenient to plan, finance, construct,
renovate, maintain and operate or oversee the operation of regional
jails and correctional facilities.
(23) To exercise all power and authority provided in this
article necessary and convenient to plan, finance, construct, and
renovate juvenile detention centers and juvenile correctional
facilities.
(x) To cooperate with the commission for distribution of
surplus foods and to authorize the executive director to exercise
all power and authority provided in this section necessary to implement the pilot program for delivery of leftover prepared foods
at the regional jail located in Marshall County, pursuant to
section seventeen, article two, chapter eighteen of this code.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the
regional jail and correctional facility authority shall no later
than the first day of November, one thousand nine hundred eighty- nine, submit a plan to the joint committee on government and
finance of the Legislature detailing the means by which the
authority will comply with the mandates of the supreme court of
appeals as to the structural and internal conditions and programs
of the correctional facilities in this state. In preparing such
plan, the authority is to allow for and consider any input from the
public.
(b) The regional jail and correctional facility authority
shall propose legislative rules, for promulgation in accordance
with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, to implement and make effective the powers, duties and
responsibilities invested in the authority by the provisions of
this article and other applicable provisions of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Regional
Jail and Correctional Facility Authority to renovate, plan, finance
and construct secure facilities for the detention or incarceration
of juveniles.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
This bill is recommended for passage in the 1998 session by
the Joint Legislative Task Force on Juvenile Foster Care, Detention
and Placement.