Read the full stored bill text
SB1240 - 572R - S Ver
Senate Engrossed
probation success
incentive payments; calculation
State of Arizona
Senate
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
SENATE BILL 1240
AN
ACT
amending section 12-270, Arizona Revised Statutes;
relating to state aid for probation services.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 12-270, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
12-270.
Probation success incentive payments and grants; baseline
calculations; annual reports; definitions
A. The administrative office of the courts, in
consultation with each county's adult probation department, shall calculate a
county probation success incentive payment for each county for the most
recently completed fiscal year.
In making this
calculation, the administrative office of the courts shall exclude probationers
who are convicted of a dangerous crime against children as defined in section
13-705.
Each county's probation success incentive
payment equals the number of probationers successfully prevented from entering
prison, compared to the county-specific historical baselines calculated
in subsection G, paragraph 1 of this section multiplied by fifty percent of the
marginal cost of incarceration as required by subsection F of this
section. The administrative office of the courts shall calculate a
statewide probation success incentive grant payment that equals the number of
probationers successfully prevented from entering prison statewide, compared to
the statewide historical baseline calculated in subsection G, paragraph 1 of this
section multiplied by twenty-five percent of the marginal cost of
incarceration as required by subsection F of this section. Subject
to legislative appropriation, the administrative office of the courts shall
proportionately allocate the county probation success incentive payments to
each county based on the specific calculations made pursuant to subsection G of
this section. Subject to legislative appropriation, the
administrative office of the courts shall deposit the statewide probation
success incentive grant payment in a subaccount established by the
administrative office of the courts for the purpose of recidivism reduction and
improving probation services.
B. Each county shall use its probation success
incentive payment and any monies received from a statewide probation success
incentive grant to improve supervision and rehabilitative services for
probationers, including any of the following:
1. Implementing and expanding evidence-based
practices for risk and needs assessments for individualized programming.
2. Implementing and expanding intermediate
sanctions, including mandatory community restitution, home detention, day
reporting, restorative justice programs and work furlough programs.
3. Expanding the availability of evidence-based
practices for rehabilitation programs, including drug and alcohol treatment,
mental health treatment, anger management, cognitive behavior programs and job
training and employment services.
4. Recognizing
and rewarding probation officers in adult probation departments whose work has
advanced the implementation of evidence-based practices or who have
contributed to the probation department's recidivism reduction efforts.
5. Paying
for continuing education and training that focuses on evidence-based
practices for probation officers or probation staff, or both.
6. Evaluating the effectiveness of rehabilitation
and supervision programs and ensuring program fidelity.
C. The administrative office of the courts shall
allocate county probation success incentive payments to each county for
distribution to the county's adult probation department to implement the
programs prescribed in subsection B of this section. A board that
includes the chief probation officer from each county shall determine the
distribution of statewide probation success incentive grant
monies. A county's chief probation officer must be recused in a vote
that may award a grant to the chief probation officer's probation
department. The county and statewide probation success incentive
payments allocated pursuant to this section shall be used to supplement, not
supplant, any other state or county appropriation for the adult probation
department.
D. For any county or statewide probation success
incentive payments allocated or grants awarded to a county, the county shall
distribute the allocated monies to its adult probation department, which must
use the monies for improving probation services and recidivism reduction
funding activities prescribed in subsection B of this section. In
the county's discretion, the county may retain up to fifteen percent of the
allocated monies for administrative and data collection purposes.
E. In any fiscal year in which a county receives
incentive payments or grants, the monies shall be made available to the
county's adult probation department to implement probation programming within
sixty days after the allocation of those monies. The county adult
probation department shall maintain a complete and accurate accounting of all
monies received pursuant to this section.
F. At the end of each fiscal year, the director of
the state department of corrections shall calculate the marginal cost of
incarceration for that fiscal year and provide that information to the
administrative office of the courts. The calculation shall take into
consideration factors such as the average length of stay in prison and variable
corrections costs, including health care services, food and clothing.
G. At the end of each fiscal year, the
administrative office of the courts shall gather data on, calculate and report
the following for each fiscal year:
1. The probation failure rate for this state and
each county. To make this calculation, the baseline probation
failure rate equals the average number of adult probationers who failed to
successfully complete a term of probation during fiscal years 2007-2008,
2014-2015 and 2018-2019, as a percentage of the average number of
probationers who successfully completed a term of probation during that same
time period. When calculating probation failure, if a person on
probation spends fewer than fourteen days in detention, that person's detention
is not a probation failure. For the purposes of calculating the
probation failure rate and the baseline probation failure rate, the number of
adult probationers who failed to successfully complete a term of probation
includes the following:
(a) A
probationer whose probation was revoked for a new crime or technical violation.
(b) A probationer whose whereabouts are unknown and
for whom an arrest warrant was issued during the fiscal year.
(c) A probationer whose probation is terminated on
serving a sentence in a county jail in lieu of probation revocation for a new
crime or technical violation.
2. An estimate of the number of adult probationers
this state and each county successfully prevented from failing probation.� This
estimate is calculated based on the reduction in the probation failure rate as
calculated annually pursuant to the baseline probation failure rate calculated
pursuant to paragraph 1 of this subsection. In making this estimate,
the administrative office of the courts, in consultation with the adult
probation department, shall adjust the calculations to account for changes in
the adult probation caseload in the most
recent
recently
completed fiscal year as compared to the adult
probation population during fiscal years 2007-2008, 2014-2015 and
2018-2019.
3. The current total population of probationers for
the last three years per county as of the date of the required report.
H. If data of sufficient quality and of the types
required by this section are not available, the administrative office of the
courts shall use the best available data to estimate probation success rates
using a methodology that is as consistent with that described in this section
as is reasonably possible.
I. The administrative office of the courts shall
include an estimate of the total monies to be held and administered in the
following fiscal year as part of the judiciary's proposed budget.
J. Each county board of supervisors shall
periodically provide oversight regarding the allocation of incentive payment
grants to the specific departments that are tasked with administering the
probation programming to ensure that disbursed monies are appropriately used as
specified in subsection B of this section.
K. Each adult probation department shall define and
track specific outcome-based measures, including all of the following:
1. The percentage of probationers who are supervised
in accordance with evidence-based practices.
2. The specific supervision policies, procedures,
programs and practices that were eliminated.
3. The percentage of probationers who successfully
complete the period of supervision.
4. The number of probation absconders who are
located each year and the disposition of these cases.
5. The amount of monies received by each adult
probation department.
L. On or before December 31, 2022 and annually
thereafter, each adult probation department that receives incentive payments or
grants pursuant to this section shall submit a written report to the
administrative office of the courts and the county board of supervisors that
accounts for incentive payments received and grants awarded and that evaluates
the effectiveness of the program.
M. On or before July 1, 2023 and annually
thereafter, the administrative office of the courts shall submit to the
governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, the president of the
senate and the joint legislative budget committee a comprehensive report on the
implementation of this section. The report must include all of the following
information:
1. The effectiveness of programs based on the
reports of
performance-based outcome
outcome-based
measures required in subsection K of this section.
2. The percentage of adult probationers whose
supervision was revoked for the year that the report is being made.
3. The percentage of probationers who were convicted
of criminal offenses during the probationer's term of supervision for the year
that the report is being made.
4. The impact of the incentive payments allocated
pursuant to this section to enhance public safety by:
(a) Reducing the percentage and the number of
probationers whose supervision was revoked for the year the report is being
made for violations or new convictions.
(b) Reducing the number of probationers who return
to prison or jail or who abscond from probation for the year that the report is
being made.
5. Any recommendations regarding resource
allocations or additional collaboration with other state, regional, federal or
local entities for improvements made pursuant to this section.
6. The number of probationers whose supervision was
revoked solely for a violation of the terms of probation and the number of
probationers whose supervision was revoked because of the commission of a new
offense.
N. For the purposes
of this section:
1. "Baseline
probation failure rate" means the average of the probation failure rates
for fiscal years 2007-2008, 2014-2015 and 2018-2019.� Each
fiscal year's failure rate is the quotient of the number of persons on
probation who failed to successfully complete the person's term of probation
that is divided by the total number of persons on probation and that is
calculated on a statewide basis and for each county.
2. "Evidence-based practices" means
supervision policies, procedures, programs and practices demonstrated by
scientific research to reduce recidivism among persons on probation.
3. "Marginal cost of incarceration" means
the sum of all short-term variable costs associated with incarcerating a
person in a state department of corrections facility and includes only those
correctional costs that marginally change in proportion to the inmate
population of a facility.
4. "Probation programming" means all
programs established pursuant to title 13, chapter 9 and consists of a system
of probation supervision services dedicated to all of the following goals:
(a) Enhancing public safety through managing and
reducing offender risk while a probationer is under supervision and on reentry
from prison into the community.
(b) Providing a range of supervision tools,
sanctions and services that are applied to probationers based on a risk or
needs assessment, or both, to reduce criminal conduct and promote
individualized behavioral change that results in reducing recidivism and
promoting successful reintegration into the community.
(c) Maximizing offender restitution, reconciliation
and restorative services to crime victims, when applicable.
(d) Holding probationers accountable for successful
compliance with applicable court orders and conditions of probation.
(e) Improving public safety outcomes for a person
who is placed on probation after an offense, as measured by the person's
successful completion of probation and commensurate reduction in the rate of
probationers returning to prison as a result of a revocation or conviction of a
new offense.
END_STATUTE